Though sanitation coverage achieved 7.5 percent in the early 90s in the country, it slowed down in the past decade, they said.

Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP) organised the roundtable titled 'Citizens' evaluation of progress made on safe water supply and sanitation in Bangladesh' at its conference room in the city.

Seventy-five percent of people have access to water supply in Bangladesh and the achievement is less than other countries in South Asia. Worryingly, over three crore people have been drinking highly arsenic-contaminated water, said the experts.

They also said that there is no specific plans to supply safe water in coastal areas, which is a obstacle to meeting the MDG.

But the government's initiatives to achieve the target for total sanitation and water supply are not insignificant.

Its initiatives include social mobilisation campaign, allocation of 20 percent of the ministry's budget to sanitation, nationwide baseline sanitation survey and a sanitation strategy.

It has also developed the National Policy for Arsenic Mitigation and Implementation Plan for Arsenic Mitigation in Bangladesh, said Prof Feroze Ahmed of Buet in his keynote paper.

Dr Ahsan Uddin Ahmed, executive director of BUP, read out the keynote paper.

There are many policies, but the government lacks commitment, said BUP Chairman Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad.

The speakers also stressed the need for developing the water bodies and reducing wastage of water to meet the goal on safe water supply and sanitation.

Executive Director of the Centre for Environmental and Geographical Service Gias Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, former secretary Dr Zahurul Karim, Jalal Uddin Muhammad Abdul Hai of the Institute of Water Management, Shahidul Islam of Uttaran and Nilufar Yeasmin of Water Resources Planning Organisation, also spoke.