Germany joins efforts to provide safe water for Dhaka dwellers

Germany yesterday officially teamed up with other European development partners for ensuring safe drinking water supply for Dhaka dwellers, with a loan agreement of 90 million Euros.

High officials of Economic Relations Division of Bangladesh and of KfW Development Bank of the German Federal Government signed the loan agreement in the capital. 

The loan would finance fetching drinking water from Meghna river to the capital at a distance of 26km, through four rivers around Dhaka city that are plagued by pollution and encroachment.   

The loan money would be a part of 570 million Euros estimated for building a third water treatment plant in Saidabad, said an official press release of German embassy in Dhaka.

“This will enable the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) to serve more people in Bangladesh's capital city,” said German Ambassador Peter Fahrenholtz.  “And it will make its services less dependent on the use of groundwater and therefore more resistant to climate change, especially during dry seasons and in view of the increasing salinisation of its aquifers.”

Bangladesh government's contribution to the total cost is 140 million Euros while the rest will be provided by European lenders as loans to make the scheme -- "Climate change-adapted drinking water resources management Dhaka” -- a success.

The European lenders include French AFD, the Danish DANIDA, the European Investment Bank and the EU.

Dhaka Wasa is implementing the scheme, with construction work expected to begin in 2020.

Under the scheme, raw water would be piped all the way from Meghna in Haria in Narayanganj for treatment at the city's Saidabad, to add 4.5 lakh cubic centimetres of water daily.

The loan signing ceremony was attended among others by Kazi Shofiqul Azam, senior secretary to ministry of finance, and Marie-Annick Bourdin, ambassador of France.