WB to give $1.1b for 5 projects

The World Bank (WB) is going to finance a total of $1,112 million against five projects for the sustainable development of Bangladesh.

Five financing agreements were signed between Bangladesh and the World Bank at the Economic Relations Division (ERD) office at the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital yesterday.

The agreements were signed by Sharifa Khan, senior secretary at the ERD, and Abdoulaye Seck, country director of the WB for Bangladesh and Bhutan, according to a press release from the lender.

"Bangladesh and the WB have a strong partnership focused on achieving the country's vision of upper middle-income status by 2031 and higher income status by 2041," said outgoing ERD senior secretary Khan.

"These projects are aligned with the Eighth Five-Year Plan 2021-2025 and support the country's graduation from LDC status in 2026 and Vision 2041," she added.

The WB said the five financing projects would help the country to achieve resilient and inclusive growth by improving early childhood development, secondary education, riverbank protection and navigability, urban primary health, and gas distribution efficiency.

"Bangladesh is an important partner for the World Bank towards its vision of a world free of poverty on a livable planet. Since the country's independence, World Bank and Bangladesh have had an impactful partnership that lifted millions of Bangladeshi people out of poverty," Seck said.

"These projects will help prepare our children for a brighter future while improving resiliency to climate change."

According to the agreements, the WB will finance $210 million for the "Bangladesh Enhancing Investments and Benefits for Early Years Project", aimed to help improve early childhood development by providing cash transfers and counseling services to about 1.7 million pregnant women and mothers of children under 4 years of age in vulnerable households.

The Washington-based global lender will provide $300 million for the "Learning Acceleration in Secondary Education Operation Project", designed to help strengthen secondary education by improving learning outcomes and teaching quality. To help recover from learning losses incurred during the Covid-19 pandemic and to improve preparedness for future shocks, the project will introduce complementary online learning blended with in-class education.

The programme will also provide stipends to 8 million vulnerable students to reduce dropout rates and ensure 5,000 schools have active sexual harassment prevention committees.

A further $102 million will be used for the "Jamuna River Sustainable Management Project 1", aimed to help improve riverbank protection and navigability in the Jamuna River, protecting about 2,500 hectares of land from riverbank erosion and flooding, saving thousands of people from displacement and safeguarding their livelihoods and assets.

It will improve navigation channels with adequate depth that can accommodate large cargo vessels year-round and revive inland water transport and trade.

The global lender will finance $200 million for the "Urban Health, Nutrition and Population Project", intended to improve primary healthcare services for treatment, prevention and referral for common illnesses including mosquito-borne diseases like dengue in Dhaka North and South City Corporations, Chattogram City Corporation, and Savar and Tarabo municipalities.

It will also support mosquito control, medical waste management, and behavior change communication. It will help improve antenatal services for women, with a target of over 250,000 women receiving at least four checkups during pregnancy. It will also support hypertension screening and follow-up of about 1.3 million adults.

Besides, the WB will provide $300 million for the "Gas Sector Efficiency Improvement and Carbon Abatement Project", which is aimed to help improve the efficiency of gas distribution and end-use through pre-paid metering systems and reduce methane emissions along the natural gas value chain.

It will install more than 1.2 million prepaid gas meters in Dhaka and Rajshahi division. Prepaid gas meters and advanced monitoring systems will help optimise natural gas end-use, mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and lead to lower gas bills for households and industrial users.

The credit will be provided from the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA). Bangladesh currently has the largest ongoing IDA program, totaling $16.46 billion in 57 projects, read a press release.