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Safe Drinking Water for 5 Aila-Hit Dists

Japan voluntary body gives Tk 113cr for project

Staff Correspondent, Khulna
The Japan International Cooperation System (JICS) has already given Tk 113 crore and 50 lakh as grant to the government of Bangladesh for setting up Mobile Desalination Plants (MDP) in 16 upazilas of Khulna, Bagerhat, Satkhira, Pirojpur and Barguna districts.
The project aims at ensuring supply of safe drinking water for the people of the five districts affected by cyclonic storms Sidr and Aila that battered the region on November 15 in2007andMay25in2009 respectively.
Around Tk 180 crore would be needed for full implementation of the Mobile Desalination Plant Project.
The government of Bangladesh will provide the remaining fund for the same purpose, said Md Sirajul Islam, superintending engineer (SE) at the Dhaka head office of Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), and member secretary of the five-member committee to monitor the works for tender processing and project implementation.
Additional Secretary Mukut Moni of the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management is convenor of the high-
level committee.
The portable plants would be set up at 116 spots of 16 upazilas under these five districts in Sidr and Aila affected southwestern region of the country.
About 27 lakh of people of the 16 upazilas have remained under influence of salinity since Sidr and Aila.
Of them, over four lakh people would be benefited after implementation of the project for supplying safe drinking water, SE Sirajul Islam said.
The Ministry of Food and Disaster Management took the initiative to set up these mobile saline treatment plants for meeting serious crisis of safe drinking water in the disaster affected places of the five districts, he said.
Tenders would be invited shordy as JICS has already placed the major amount of the total fund for implementation of the project.
People will get saline-free safe drinking water from these desalination plants free of cost for one year after completion of the project work.
Afterwards, they will have to pay a nominal price of 60 paisa per litre to buy safe water from the plants.
Works for implementation of the project
will begin in January next year and it is expectedto be complete within threemonths.
DPHE will spend Tk 67 crore for buying land and construction of a 10-feet-long and 12-feet-wide cell for installation of each of the plants, SE Sirajul Islam said.
The 116 spots of these 16 upazilas of five districts have been selected as they were proved as arsenic free places, he said, adding that huge amount of money would be needed for maintaining these 116 desalination plants.
The coastal upazilas of Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira districts saw severe crisis of safe drinking water following cyclonic storms Sidr and Aila. Different non-governmental organisations (NGOs) including Rupantar, Christian Service Society,AshroyandMuslim Aid extended helping hands to mitigate the crisisofsafe drinkingwater.
Besides, Khulna DPHE installed a large number of deep and shallow tube-wells in the Sidr and Aila affected areas of Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira districts to solve the problem.
Yet, lakhs of homeless people continued to suffer from serious crisis of safe drinking water due to high salinity in the affected areas.