Sanitation action plan and technology demonstration(s) for 30 municipalities in Bangladesh

Strengthening Urban Governance, Improving Urban Infrastructure and Services

In 2014 the Government of Bangladesh launched its 3rd Urban Governance and Infrastructure Improvement Project (UGIIP III) financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The project aims to strengthen urban governance and improve urban infrastructure and service delivery in 30 pourashavas (municipalities) in Bangladesh. BORDA prepared a technical action plan to implement modular and decentralised sanitation infrastructure in combination with capacity-building programmes and awareness generation campaigns.

Under the provisions of UGIIP III, the ADB is financing the Sanitation Action Plans and Technology Demonstration(s) for 30 Pourashavas project. The aim of the Sanitation Action Plan is to reform sanitation infrastructure and its governance within the selected towns to make them model towns for the rest of the country. The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) and the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) under the Local Government Division (LGD) of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives are the executing agencies of this project while the participating pourashavas will implement the programme components. The programme is implemented over a period of six years starting from July 2014.

Sanitation Value Chain Demand Assessment

The assessment of the sanitation situation is based on a Sanitation Baseline Survey, which was conducted in all 30 pourashavas in the period between March and June 2015, and data collection and validation during additional field visits in selected towns between July and September 2015. A situation analysis was done for each stage of the sanitation value chain. It covers access to different types of sanitation infrastructure and the consequent gap between demand and supply, and also provides an analysis of the quality status of the existing systems.

The demand assessment across the value chain addresses:

• Demand for construction of new infrastructure
• Demand for improvement of the existing system

Key Achievements

• Conducted a structured baseline survey in 30 towns across components of the sanitation value chain mainly focusing on faecal sludge management (FSM) that resulted in a comprehensive understanding of the current sanitation and FSM situation in each of the towns.
• Conducted a comprehensive assessment of existing containment, collection, conveyance and treatment infrastructure pertaining to faecal sludge/septage in each project town to further help in preparing strategies for implementation of a sustainable FSM system. One of the key assessments was to understand the functionality of various containment structures and quantification of faecal sludge/septage generation, which is pivotal for planning an appropriate FSM system.
• Developed a programmatic approach to rolling out a central government-led countrywide FSM programme that will create opportunities to develop an ecosystem for pourashavas to actively participate in and implement.
• Appreciation from ADB of the overall approach and the methodology of preparing the sanitation action plans for 30 towns. The appreciation was further reflected in a request from ADB to BORDA for technical support in another ADB-funded programme in Bangladesh.