EIB to lend EUR 100m for surface water system
FE Report | Tuesday, 1 July 2014
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will lend EUR 100 million to Bangladesh to finance surface water supply system, which is expected to improve availability, quality and reliability of water supply services in Dhaka.
This is the EIB's second lending operation to the public sector in the country. The first lending of EUR 82 million was signed in November 2013 in support of more efficient power generation, said a release issued by the EIB.
The latest financing contract was signed between the EIB and Economic Relations Division in the city on Monday.
ERD … and EIB lending operation in Asia Tao Ren signed the contract on behalf of the respective sides.
According to the EIB, the main project component is to develop a new sustainable surface water supply system comprising a raw water intake at the Meghna River about 30 kilometre east of Dhaka, a 21km raw water transmission pipe line and a new 500 million litres per day (MLD) water treatment plant (WTP) at Gandharbpur.
The project will also include 14 km treated water transmission pipelines from the Gandharbpur WTP to the injection point of the existing distribution network and distribution reinforcements in the target area with an estimated population of approximately 3 million.
The water supply project component is complemented by a distribution network improvement component that will be implemented in 16 district metered areas (DMAs) with a population of approximately 1.3 million. The project will be implemented between 2014 and 2019, the release added.
The EIB is granting this loan under the current lending mandate for Asia and Latin America (ALA IV), which enables it to support investment designed to develop the local private sector, build social and economic infrastructure and mitigate the effects of climate change.
Since 1993, the EIB has operated under four successive Asia and Latin America mandates. Under these mandates, from 1993 until 2013, the EIB has already provided EUR 5.6 billion for projects in Asia.
In line with the European Union mandate guiding the EIB lending mandate for Asia, the project will promote the development of social and economic infrastructure with positive health and environmental benefits for the population. The operation will also contribute to EIB's Climate Action as it will improve the resilience to adverse impacts from climate change, in particular droughts.