Call for more funds for water, sanitation in rural areas

A local research firm and a global aid organisation yesterday urged the government to increase per capita budget allocation for safe water, sanitation and hygiene in rural areas to reduce the existing disparity with urban areas.
The Human Development Research Centre (HDRC) and WaterAid Bangladesh suggested the government increase the fund for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) to Tk 3,363 crore in the next budget, up from Tk 2,653 crore in the outgoing fiscal year.
"Higher allocation to the most disadvantaged and hard-to-reach areas such as chars, haors, coastal areas and hills will minimise the huge disparity between rural and urban areas," said Abul Barkat, adviser to HDRC.
Barkat spoke at a programme while presenting a budget proposal at Dhaka Reporters' Unity, organised by HDRC and WaterAid, a UK-based organisation promoting safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in Bangladesh.
"WASH is a neglected area and the negligence is severe in rural areas," Barkat said, adding the allocation in fiscal 2013-14 for WASH was only 0.24 percent of GDP, 1.2 percent of national budget and 3.9 percent of development budget.
Budgetary allocations and expenditures for WASH have remained focused for the capital city, metropolitan and city corporation areas, divisional and district towns in the last seven years, he said referring to data.
"We are not recommending cuts in the allocations for urban areas; we are requesting the government to increase the allocations for rural areas, keeping the allocations unchanged for urban areas," said Barkat, also the chairman of Janata Bank.
In the last six years, the average per capita allocation for WASH was only Tk 11 in char areas, while the average highest allocation was Tk 1,843 for Chittagong division, he said.
He proposed to increase the per capita allocation to Tk 150 in char areas in the upcoming budget.
The allocation should be Tk 450 in districts and towns, Tk 250 in coastal areas, Tk 150 in the hill and Tk 100 in other rural areas, he said.
The six years' average allocations in these areas were Tk 197, Tk 191 and Tk 33 respectively.
Barkat also urged the government to undertake new WASH projects in 53 district towns, 308 municipalities and 4,505 unions that cover outlying areas.
"Capacities of implementing agencies should be increased and coordination between the government and non-governmental organisations should be ensured for successful implementation of existing and new WASH projects."
Khairul Islam, country director of WaterAid Bangladesh, was also present.

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Taxonomy

• Freshwater
• Water Supply Design
• Sanitation Services