Experts tell post-budget discussion
WASH allocation not enough to cover marginalised section
The poor funding will slow down country's efforts to achieve SDGs by 2030
FE Report | Wednesday, 29 June 2022
Allocation for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in the proposed national budget for the financial year (FY) 2022-23 is not enough to address the emerging challenges of the hard-to-reach areas and marginalised people in the country, speakers told a post-budget discussion.
The allocation under safely managed sanitation, environment and capacity-building shows a surprising decline in the WASH allocation under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the FY 2022-23 in the proposed national budget, they added, saying that the poor funding will slow down the country's efforts to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by the year 2030.
The event was jointly organised by WaterAid, Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC), FANSA-BD, FSM Network, Bangladesh Water Integrity Network (BaWin), Sanitation and Water for All, End Water Poverty, MHM Platform, UNICEF and WASH Alliance International at the National Press Club in the city on Tuesday.
Eminent economist Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, also executive chairman of PPRC, and Hossain Ishrath Adib, acting Country Director of WaterAid, presented a keynote paper.
Access to 'safely managed drinking water' stands at 59 per cent while access to 'safely managed sanitation' stands at 39 per cent, reads the keynote paper.
Proportionate allocation for the rural areas also shows an increase - from 22.5 per cent in the FY 2021-22 to 27.7 per cent in the FY 2022-23.
However, intra-urban inequities in WASH allocation persist with Dhaka North City Corporation and Gazipur City Corporation being the big winners in the FY 2022-23 allocations.
The speakers observed that the budget for the FY 2022-23 saw an upward trend in allocation for the haor and hill regions.
This spirit should be elevated in the coastal and char areas to signify 'no one is left behind', they opined.
The speakers called for giving appropriate attention to selecting the ADP projects and reducing the WASH allocation gap across the rural and hard-to-reach areas.
An analysis by PPRC in collaboration with WaterAid found that the WASH ADP allocation increased by 5.44 per cent compared to an overall ADP increase of 7.5 per cent.
Total WASH allocation under the ADP in the proposed budget is Tk118.2 billion, out of the total Tk2,460.66 billion allocation for the ADP.
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