ADB signs $350m to fund three Bangladesh projects

The government has signed $350 million agreements on three projects with the Asian Development Bank, the ADB says in a statement.

News Deskbdnews24.com
Published : 9 August 2018, 12:09 PM
Updated : 9 August 2018, 12:09 PM

The agreements were signed at the Economic Relations Division in Dhaka on Thursday.

Kazi Shofiqul Azam, secretary of ERD, and Manmohan Parkash, country director of ADB, signed the agreements.

Of $350 million, a $100 million grant will support the displaced people in Cox’s Bazar camps, a $25.44 million grant will enhance the use of solar-powered pumps in irrigation, and $225 million loan will enhance quality and relevance of secondary education, according to the statement.

“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 Parkash on grant for supporting the displaced people in Cox’s Bazar.

On the secondary education project, he said, “The assistance will further support the government’s secondary education reform to prepare youths to meet the requirements of a rapidly developing economy.”

“The environment friendly SPV irrigation can replace diesel systems to enhance energy security, reduce environmental pollution, and mitigate climate change,” he said on the solar-power project.

The ADB’s $100 million grant project will support the displaced people sheltered in camps 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.

The $25.44 million funding will support installation of at least 2,000 off-grid solar photovoltaic pumping systems in areas without electricity access with an estimated 19.3 megawatts-peak of solar capacity.

By replacing diesel pumping systems with off-grid solar photovoltaic pumps, the project is expected to result in a reduction of 17,261 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

The secondary education project, scheduled to be completed in 2023, is supporting the government’s comprehensive secondary education development program, backed by development partners in a harmonized 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 $225 million ADB assistance will develop a competency-based curriculum, promote the use of ICT in teaching and strengthen classroom assessment.