ADB to give $55m loan for small scale water services
Friday, 11 September 2009
FE Report
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of Bangladesh Thursday signed an agreement for a $55 million soft loan to improve small scale water services that will help cut rural poverty, improve food crop production, increase access to water, and address the adverse impacts of climate change.
M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, Secretary, Economic Relations Division (ERD) and Paul J Heytens, Country Director of ADB's Bangladesh Resident Mission, signed the loan agreement on behalf of the government and ADB respectively at a ceremony at ERD, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka.
The assistance from ADB's concessional Asian Development Fund will be used to finance 230 subprojects across the country in the areas of flood management, drainage, water conservation, and irrigation. Funds will also go to strengthen the capabilities of central and local government agencies overseeing the sector, and to develop water management cooperative associations - grassroots organizations responsible for the day-to-day operations of small scale water services.
The project will help boost income opportunities for food crop production, strengthen household food security, improve access to water for the poor, and reduce the risk of flooding. About 1.7 million people are expected to directly benefit from the project, and special attention will be given to the needs of vulnerable groups, including women, with 30 per cent of all grass root level water management committee posts in the water management cooperative associations to be reserved for women. The project will build on the lessons learned from two other successful ADB assisted-projects in the country's small scale (less than 1,000 hectares) water resources sector.
ADB's 32-year loan with an 8-year grace period carrying a 1 per cent interest and 1.5 per cent for the balance of the term makes up 51.3 per cent of the total project cost of $107.3 million.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of Bangladesh Thursday signed an agreement for a $55 million soft loan to improve small scale water services that will help cut rural poverty, improve food crop production, increase access to water, and address the adverse impacts of climate change.
M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, Secretary, Economic Relations Division (ERD) and Paul J Heytens, Country Director of ADB's Bangladesh Resident Mission, signed the loan agreement on behalf of the government and ADB respectively at a ceremony at ERD, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka.
The assistance from ADB's concessional Asian Development Fund will be used to finance 230 subprojects across the country in the areas of flood management, drainage, water conservation, and irrigation. Funds will also go to strengthen the capabilities of central and local government agencies overseeing the sector, and to develop water management cooperative associations - grassroots organizations responsible for the day-to-day operations of small scale water services.
The project will help boost income opportunities for food crop production, strengthen household food security, improve access to water for the poor, and reduce the risk of flooding. About 1.7 million people are expected to directly benefit from the project, and special attention will be given to the needs of vulnerable groups, including women, with 30 per cent of all grass root level water management committee posts in the water management cooperative associations to be reserved for women. The project will build on the lessons learned from two other successful ADB assisted-projects in the country's small scale (less than 1,000 hectares) water resources sector.
ADB's 32-year loan with an 8-year grace period carrying a 1 per cent interest and 1.5 per cent for the balance of the term makes up 51.3 per cent of the total project cost of $107.3 million.