DHAKA, Aug 9, 2018 (BSS) – The government and the Asian Development Bank
(ADB) today signed three separate agreements in grants and loans worth US$
350.44 million, including a US$ 100 million grant assistance agreement to
support forcibly displaced Rohingya people in Cox’s Bazar.
Out of US$ 350.44 million assistance signed in a single event, two are
grant projects with US$ 125.44 million. A US$ 100 million grant will support
the displaced people in Cox’s Bazar camps; US$ 25.44 million grant will
enhance use of solar-powered pumps in irrigation; and US$ 225 million loan
will enhance quality and relevance of secondary education.
Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary Kazi Shofiqul Azam and ADB
Country Director Manmohan Parkash signed the agreements on behalf of their
respective sides at the ERD in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.
The US$ 100 million grant will help develop basic infrastructure and
services for the forcibly displaced Rohingya people in Cox’s Bazar camps. The
grant assistance forms part of an envisaged package totaling US$ 200 million.
“The grant assistance project has been prepared, processed and approved at
an extraordinary speed in two months after ADB received a request for grant
assistance from the government of Bangladesh in May 2018,” said Country
Director Manmohan Parkash.
He said they are looking forward to working closely with the government,
development partners, and other stakeholders for the success of these
projects.
“I am glad to share that ADB has already approved around US$ 1.5 billion
(US$ 1,495 million) so far this year. More projects worth over US$ 600
million will be placed for approvals, which may push the total approvals to
over US$ 2 billion in 2018,” he added.
The ADB Country Director said since January 2018, contract awards are
close to US$ 1 billion (US$ 937 million), while disbursements are US$ 531
million, as of today. “This means we have achieved 140 percent and 38 percent
higher in contract awards and disbursements as of now in 2018 over 2017.”
The ADB’s US$ 100 million grant project will support the displaced people
sheltered in camps of Ukhia and Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar focusing on water
supply and sanitation, disaster risk management, energy, and roads.
The project will rehabilitate roads within the camps to connect essential
food distribution and storage centres, and provide emergency access. It will
also resurface the road from Cox’s Bazar to Teknaf and other critical
sections.
To address water needs, the project will provide mobile water carriers,
community bathing facilities, and build small piped water supply systems and
waste management facilities, together with small water treatment plants.
Solar powered and mini grid-connected street lighting will be provided.
Electricity substations, distribution lines, and transformers will be
augmented to better serve the area.
The US$ 225 million loan support will be used for overhauling secondary
education and boosting education quality, access, and relevance.
The assistance is the third and final tranche of the US$ 500 million
Secondary Education Sector Investment Program (SESIP) approved by ADB in
2013.
The SESIP, scheduled to be completed in 2023, is supporting the
government’s comprehensive secondary education development programme, backed
by development partners in a harmonised manner. The government envisages an
increase of about 3.5 million secondary school students by 2023, requiring an
additional 145,000 teachers and 10,000 more schools.
The US$ 225 million assistance will develop a competency-based curriculum;
improve teaching, especially in science, math, English, and Bangla; promote
the use of ICT in teaching; strengthen classroom assessment; reform national
examination; and pilot pre-vocational and vocational subjects in secondary
schools and madrasahs.
Apart from financing in these two projects, ADB will provide US$ 25.44
million grant to spur off-grid solar-driven irrigation pumping in Bangladesh.
The grant will further support activities for promoting SPV water pumping
systems under the ADB-financed Power System Efficiency Improvement Project.
The funding will support installation of at least 2,000 SPV pumping
systems in areas without electricity access with an estimated 19.3 megawatts-
peak of solar capacity. The grant will be used to lower the high upfront cost
of using SPV pumping systems for agricultural irrigation, making them more
affordable to low-income farmers.