Chattogram’s $400M Project to Tackle Salinity for Clean Drinking Water

The cost of DWASA’s 'Dhaka Environmentally Sustainable Water Supply Project' has surged by Tk 28.28 billion in its third revision, raising the total estimated budget to Tk 109.75 billion—126.38% higher than the original Tk 48.48 billion approved in 2013. Despite an 11-year delay and 87% physical progress, the project remains incomplete.

Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser, Professor Muhammad Yunus, has requested China to develop a 50-year masterplan for managing the country’s complex river and water systems, which are vital to its ecosystem but also pose significant challenges.

BRAC Bank, in partnership with VisionSpring, aims to provide eye screenings to over 46,000 individuals in 2024 under its CSR initiative, Aporajeyo Ami. Expanding beyond factory workers, the program now includes BRAC Bank's head office staff and TARA customers.

The Shikha project, launched by the European Union and Brac, addresses gender-based violence (GBV) in Bangladesh, where recent studies show alarming rates of harassment: 80% of women in garment factories, 74% of female students, 94% of women using public transport, and 68% of women on online platforms have faced violence.

A study titled "Microfinance Competition in the Presence of Moneylenders: Theory and Evidence" found that the presence of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in rural areas significantly lowers interest rates and reduces reliance on informal moneylenders.

The government has approved a Tk 518.61 crore water treatment plant for the National Special Economic Zone (NSEZ) in Chattogram's Mirsharai, with a capacity of 50 million litres per day (expandable to 100 million litres). The project, awarded to a ZHEC-BOW-SMEDRIC joint venture, is set for completion by June 2026.