The largest 10 km network safe water supply project formerly starts supplying water to Rohingya inhabitants in Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar from Wednesday. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), International Organization for Migration (IOM) and related organizations held an inauguration ceremony to celebrate the completion of the construction of the water supply facilities they have supported at a camp for displaced people from Myanmar in Bangladesh (Kutupalong Camp).
It is the largest water supply facility at the camp, and it can supply safe water to nearly 30,000 people. This project is expected to promote health and hygiene among the people living in the camp, and make their lives more convenient. During this construction through a Grant Aid Project for ‘Ground Water Investigation and Development of Deep Ground Water Source in Urban and Rural Areas’, JICA excavated a well that was nearly 400 meters deep. And then the water supply facilities installed later by IOM.
The water supply pipeline network, which extends for 9,900 meters in length, is equipped with 358 taps. Solar panels are used to provide power for pumping up groundwater, resulting in an environmentally-friendly way to generate power that has never been attempted in this kind of endeavor before. Helal Uddin Ahmed, Secretary,Local Government Division (LGD), Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives attended the inauguration ceremony as representative of Bangladesh government.
He hoped that this facility will bring benefit for the people in the camp and he was grateful for the support from Japan, alongside all the cooperation from other international organizations as well. Some of the expected users of the water supply facilities in the camp said, “Thank you all for the facility you have provided. We are very happy to see the completion of the new water supply network. We promise to use this facility with proper care”.
Minister Takeshi Ito of Embassy of Japan in Bangladesh who was present during the ceremony said, “Water is essential for life. I am glad that Japan is part of this joint effort to save lives of people who had to flee their land, and I hope through this water supply system their lives in this camp will improve”.
In addition to the support from the grant aid project, JICA have been implementing the Technical Cooperation Project for ‘Improvement of Comprehensive Management Capacity of Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) on Water Supply’ since 2014 in order to improve the quality of water supply services in rural and urban areas.
The equipment provided and DPHE officials trained through these projects have helped with the current water supply project at the camp. Water quality management at the completed water supply facilities will be handled jointly by the IOM and DPHE. JICA and the Government of Japan will continue to support the development of a safe water supply system not only at the camp, but also in Bangladesh in order to achieve SDGs Goal 6, clean water and sanitation for all.
Japan supports the Government of Bangladesh with a view to realizing the early repatriation of the displaced persons to Myanmar in a safe, voluntary and dignified manner under UN cooperation. Japan has provided assistance of approximately 99 Million US dollars for the displaced people and host community in Cox’s Bazar.
