JICA and Govt Collaborate on Critical Environmental Projects

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.

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.

Bangladesh suffers an annual economic loss of nearly $300 crore due to extreme climate events such as floods, droughts, storms, and heatwaves, impacting over 6.3 million people, according to the Climate Risk Index 2025 by Germanwatch. In 2022 alone, the country lost over $299 crore to natural disasters.

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.

Bangladesh may lose 4.8% of working hours by 2030 due to heat stress, while 17% of its land could be submerged by 2050, displacing 20 million people, according to a study by FSG. The garments and construction sectors, contributing 34% of GDP and employing 12 million people, generate 15% of national emissions, projected to rise 5% by 2030.