ADB increases irrigation loan

The government on Thursday signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the improvement and modernisation of the country's irrigation system.

As per the agreement, the ADB will provide $13.5 million as an additional project loan to improve management, operation, and maintenance of large-scale irrigation schemes, says a press release.

The supplemental loan will scale up the ongoing $46 million Irrigation Management Improvement Project.

Fatima Yasmin, secretary, Economic Relations Division (ERD), and Edimon Ginting, country director of ADB, virtually signed the loan agreement on behalf of Bangladesh and ADB, respectively. 

"The assistance will help manage the effects of flooding and scarcity of water by improving irrigation management and infrastructure," said Edimon Ginting.

"Under the project, management, operation, and maintenance of irrigation schemes will be transferred from government departments to private operators, paving the way for a sustainable irrigation system," he added.

Ginting said, "The project will modernise the irrigation infrastructure introducing various innovative measures, such as replacing diesel motor pumps with electric ones, developing a buried-pipe tertiary distribution system, and installing a prepaid card metre system."  

The project will repair 17 kilometers of coastal embankments and re-excavate over 400 kilometers of canal drains by 2024, to expand the dry-season irrigation area of the Muhuri irrigation system by 60% to 18,000 hectares.

After the implementation of the project, the average yield of irrigated boro paddy is expected to increase to four tons per hectare of land, which was three tons in 2013. The project will ensure that at least 2% of pump operators, 5% of mobile water unit vendors, and 5% of project construction workers are women. 

The ADB assistance aims to achieve climate resilience by promoting improved flood protection, reservoir management, and water use efficiency.