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Published on December 1, 2015
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said the weekly ECNEC meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina cleared seven projects with a outlay of Taka 2,037 crore including the "water supply in rural areas".
"With the approval of the 'water supply in rural areas' project, 88 percent of the population would come under the safe water supply coverage across the country . . . the current coverage is 74 percent," he said.
The minister added that a major objective of the project was to provide arsenic-free water to poor rural people.
He said Department of Public Health and Engineering (DPHE) was entrusted with the task to implement the project by December 2019.
"The government will provide Tk 2,011 crore from the national exchequer (for the seven projects) and organizations concerned will contribute the remaining amount from their own funds," Kamal told the briefing also joined by State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Mannan.
The campaign for safe water coverage began as Bangladesh in early 1990s found presence of toxic arsenic in the aquifer which was until then regarded as the safe water source.
In the previous decades Bangladesh spearheaded a massive campaign to promote ground water for drinking bringing over 90 percent people under the tube well coverage but the success story ran dry with gradual detection of the toxic element in the aquifer.
"But the government is determined to bring the entire population under safe water coverage," Kamal said.
He said the project aimed at strengthening the local services of DSCC through proper maintenance, management, and effective machineries alongside enhancing the efficiency of the existing water plants and management of waste, a major water polluter.
The other projects approved in the meeting are: Manikganj Medical College and 250-bed Hospital with Taka 615.53 crore, Upward extension of SB/CID Building to 13th storey from 7th storey with Taka 43.93 crore, Academic and physical infrastructures development of Chittagong University (2nd revised) with Taka 297.50 crore, Integrated Management of Resources for Poverty Alleviation Through Comprehensive Technology (IMPACT) (Phase-2) (Revised) with Taka 62.20 crore and BSCIC Plastic Industrial Estate with Taka 133 crore.
Ministers and State Ministers attended the meeting while Planning Commission members and secretaries concerned were present.
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