The World Bank Board will provide US$ 460 million loan to develop the capital Dhaka’s sewerage system. The World Bank has agreed to provide the loans to Dhaka's sewage treatment project. The matter is under negotiations among the concerned authorities.
The matter will be finalized with the World Bank on the 20th of this month. The interest rate on the loan will be slightly higher than 3 percent, the Economic Relations Department (ERD) said.
It was revealed that the World Bank will provide loan ofUS$ 460 million under the 'Dhaka Sanitation Improvement' project. Of the total, US$ 340 would come from development partners – World Bank US$ 170 min, US$ 170 million from AIB and the rest of US$ 120 million to be paid by the government. The project will be completed by December 2024.
As a result, about 15 lakh people will be able to access enhanced sanitation facilities. At present, only 20 percent of the people have access to the sewerage system in Dhaka. Additional Secretary of the ERD (World Bank) Shahabuddin Patwari said, "Under the ‘Dhaka Sanitation Improvement Project’, the World Bank will give us a loan.
However, we are in talks to reduce the interest rate. The interest rate on the loan will be slightly higher than 3 percent. Everything is in the final stages. The matter will be discussed with the World Bank on the 20th of this month. After this, the approval of the meeting of ECNEC (Executive Committee of the National Economic Council) is needed for a loan agreement.
According to sources at Dhaka WASA, the sewerage system in the city is located in the Pagla. The refinery capacity has also been reduced by half due to the fragility of the sewerage connection network.
Most of the people of Dhaka City are discharging their wastewater on the storm water drainage line or in the canals and beels. As a result, the environment is being polluted. As a result, the public sanitation of Dhaka city is deteriorating. In this case, a sewerage master plan was formulated for the overall development of the sewerage system in Dhaka City.
According to the master plan, the initiative was taken to develop the Pagla catchment sewerage system in the south of Dhaka. For this purpose, the World Bank has proposed to finance the project in 2016. At the time, the organization expressed interest in providing the loan.
