Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Bangladesh government today signed an agreement of $11 million in loan to develop water supply and sanitation priority in urban area of the country.

The assistance under the Urban Infrastructure Improvement Preparatory Facility will help manage the technical and implementation issues upfront to secure high readiness of the ensuing investment projects.

The projects will help smooth water supply and sanitation under Department of Public Health Engineering and Narayanganj Urban Development Project under Narayanganj City Corporation.

Monowar Ahmed, secretary of Economic Relations Division (ERD) and Manmohan Parkash, country director of the ADB signed the agreement on behalf of Bangladesh and ADB respectively at a ceremony in Dhaka, a press release of the ADB said today.

“Sound technical capacity for project preparation and implementation, high quality feasibility studies, safeguards, engineering designs, and efficient procurement and contract management are critical for smooth project implementation,” said Country Director Manmohan Parkash.

“This facility will help prepare priority urban projects by addressing technical and implementation issues so that investment projects are implemented quickly ensuring the highest standard,” Parkash said.

The project will support Department of Public Health Engineering in ensuring water supply and sanitation investment projects in selected secondary towns and city corporations where development is lagging, according to the release.