Bangladesh secures $1.16b from World Bank for health, climate efforts

The World Bank has approved three initiatives worth $1.16 billion to support Bangladesh in enhancing health services, improving water and sanitation, and promoting greener, climate-resilient development.

The Board of Executive Directors of the multilateral lender approved the credit lines on Thursday (19 December), according to a press release.

"Bangladesh is among the most vulnerable countries to climate change and faces the greatest pollution challenges. Improving climate resilience in every sector and tackling the pollution scourge has become a critical development priority," said Abdoulaye Seck, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan.

"These new financing will bring to the people of Bangladesh essential services such as health and water and sanitation while laying the foundation for clean, climate resilient and sustainable development," he added.

$500m for climate-resilient development

Of the total credit, a $500 million Second Bangladesh Green and Climate Resilient Development Credit will support reforms to help the country's transition to green and climate-resilient development.

The financing supports policy reforms to improve public planning, financing and implementation for green and climate-resilient interventions at local and national levels and promote clean and resource-efficient production and services in key sectors. 

As a prerequisite to the credit, the Planning Commission has adopted the Multi-Year Public Investment Programme Guidelines for key sectors, integrated with the Medium-Term Budget Framework.

The financing also supports policies to reduce air pollution, improve environmental enforcement, expand access to carbon markets, enhance sustainable water and sanitation services, improve the efficiency of the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100, and advance a climate-resilient and sustainable environment.

To effectively implement the Delta Plan, the Planning Division has adopted the Delta Appraisal Framework. The financing also supports sustainable public procurement incorporating environmental and social considerations. It will further help improve the energy efficiency of buildings and appliances and incentivise the construction sector to become greener.

$379m for health, nutrition development

The $379 million Health, Nutrition, and Population Sector Development Programme-For-Results will help improve access to quality health and nutrition services and build resilient health systems in Sylhet and Chattogram divisions. It will provide quality health, nutrition, and population services to about 5.1 million people.

The programme will help reduce maternal and neonatal mortality by increasing the number of births, both normal delivery and Caesarian section deliveries, in public health facilities. It will ensure that vulnerable women in the most climate-vulnerable districts are reached. 

The programme will also strengthen the health care system to effectively respond to evolving health needs such as screening and treating hypertension and other conditions. 

Alongside the World Bank financing, the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF) is providing a catalytic $25 million grant to support the government in prioritizing interventions such as child nutrition, adolescent health, quality maternal and newborn care, data use, and coordination.

$280m for Ctg water supply project

The $280 million Chattogram Water Supply Improvement Project will provide safe water through new and rehabilitated piped water connections to over one million people in Chattogram. It will build about 200,000 new household water connections and provide improved sanitation services to about 100,000 people in low-income communities. 

This project is part of a World Bank South Asia regional initiative or programme of programmes to provide Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services to about 100 million people across the region by 2035.

The project will also help the Chattogram Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) improve operational efficiency and financial sustainability and address issues related to water loss such as high levels of leakage, metering inaccuracies, and illegal connections. It will help reduce water losses by installing new water meters and operationalising 46 Smart District Metered Areas (DMAs) for reliable water supply, leakage detection, and real-time tracking of water consumption. 

It will help strengthen the utility systems, financial performance and creditworthiness covering tariff roadmap, and building Chattogram Wasa's capacity for long-term infrastructure and business planning systems, data management, asset management, communication strategy and disaster preparedness.

The World Bank was among the first development partners to support Bangladesh following its independence. 

Since then, the World Bank has committed more than $45 billion in International Development Association (IDA) financing in the form of grants, interest-free loans, and concessional credits to help the country address its development priorities. In recent years, Bangladesh has been among the largest recipients of the World Bank's interest-free credits.