Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) has targeted to increase surface water supply to develop a sustainable water supply system and reduce dependency on groundwater.
"We plan to reduce dependency on groundwater to 30 percent from the current 78 percent of the total water supply by 2021 to ensure sustainable water supply, Taqsem A. Khan, Managing Director of DWASA told a meeting in the capital Dhaka on Saturday.
Officials from the DWASA and Asian Development Bank (ADB) met with international and local prospective bidders to discuss plans for an ADB-funded project to develop a surface water supply system for the fast-growing Dhaka city, where groundwater is depleting rapidly.
About 50 representatives from 25 firms participated in the event.
DWASA also organized a visit to the project site, including the intake location at Meghna River at Bishnondi, the water treatment plant at Gandharbur, and the existing Saidabad water treatment plant on March 14.
The ADB approved $250 million in concessional loans for the Dhaka Environmentally Sustainable Water Supply Project in October 2013.
The participants were informed about the largest bid package under the project that entails design, build, and operation of the water intake, raw water transmission pipeline, and the water treatment plant. The bidding process is expected to start in April.
The project will help expand the coverage and quality of water supply to nearly 11 million people in Dhaka by developing a new raw water intake at the Meghna River, about 22 kilometers east of the city, with a pumping station that has the capacity to provide 2 billion litres of water a day.
The ADB project will also fund a treatment plant at Gandharbpur capable of handling 500 million litres of water a day, and install raw and treated water transmission pipelines. These initiatives are expected to reduce groundwater extraction by 150 million litres a day and help the city water authority raise its overall surface water supply to 1.9 billion litres a day by 2021.
The project will cost nearly $675 million. On top of its loan, ADB will also partially administer a $100 million loan from Agence Française de Développement.
The European Investment Bank is also providing a co- financing loan of $100 million while the Government of Bangladesh will provide almost $225 million.
Dhaka has been drawing heavily on groundwater but the current rate of extraction is no longer sustainable with the water table falling by 2-3 metres a year. In addition, the Sitalakhya River – the city's main source of surface water – is becoming increasingly polluted.
BBN/SSR/AD-15Mar14-6:12 pm (BST)
