Addressing water, sanitation needs of urban poor

WASH4UrbanPoor, a five-year project aiming to serve over 450,000 urban poor with water, sanitation and hygiene was launched yesterday by WaterAid and the Swedish embassy. 

The project aims to reach out to low-income urban communities with sustainable WASH services in slums, schools, healthcare centres and public places, said a press release.

The project will run till 2022, carrying out operations in Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna and three municipalities -- Saidpur, Sakhipur and Paikgachha.

In his welcome address, Md Khairul Islam, country director of WaterAid, said, “The project aims to create opportunities to deal with the emerging WASH challenges in the urban context and to bring about a positive and sustainable impact on the lives of urban poor through providing them with basic human rights -- water and sanitation.”

The event was attended by Roxana Quader, additional secretary of the Local Government Division; Charlotta Schlyter, Swedish ambassador; and Taqsem A Khan, managing director of Dhaka Wasa.