Tk 8,850cr project for safe water in rural areas
The government has taken a Tk 8,850 crore project to ensure safe water in the country’s rural areas.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) yesterday gave go-ahead to the project titled “Supply of safe water across the country”, which will be completed between January 2020 and June 2025.
The Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) will implement the project, which will be financed by the government.
Some 105 people on an average use a tube well in Bangladesh’s rural areas, which will be brought down to 50, said MA Mannan, planning minister, after yesterday’s Ecnec meeting.
The DPHE will implement the project for the improvement of health and livelihood of people through supply of safe water across the country, according to a summary of the project.
Under the project, the government will set up some 90,636 shallow tube wells, 123,877 deep tube wells, 206,664 shallow tube wells with submersible pump and tank, 170,222 deep tube wells with submersible pump and tank, 3,379 ring wells, 3,210 rain water harvesting units and 491 rural piped water supply schemes.
In yesterday’s meeting, the planning ministry also tabled another project on technical education and stipend-based education and training.
As part of the plan, the government will extend stipends and free books under a Tk 957 crore project among 10 lakh poor and underprivileged students who are interested to take technical education and vocational training.
The project will be implemented under the revenue budget as a continuous programme, not under the development budget, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said at the meeting.
However, Hasina gave her consent to the programme, under which some 607,392 students will get stipends while 329,352 will get financial support to buy books.
Moreover, around 7,663 biometric attendance devices will be procured to ensure presence of students in the classes.
The Ecnec also approved a project to build a theatre in Barishal at a cost of Tk 412 crore and took a Tk 1,190 crore project to replace the existing Bailey and concrete bridges, which are in a very poor condition now.
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