Water Sector Roadmap: Bangladesh Water Sector Review

7/29/2019 Water Sector Roadmap: Bangladesh Water Sector Review

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Water Sector Roadmap

Bangladesh



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BANGLADESH WATER SECTOR REVIEW



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Table of Content

I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1 A. Country Context 1B. Sector Context 2C. Regional Context 6

II. ROLE OF THE GOVERNMENT AND EXTERNAL FUNDING AGENCIES 7 A. Historical Perspective, and Formulating Water Sector Policy and Plans 7B. Water Sector Institutions 9C. Investments in Water Resources Management 13

1. Overview 132. Impacts of Key Interventions – Flood Control and Drainage Schemes 14

D. Support by External Funding Agencies 151. Overall Trend and Key Lessons 152. ADB Assistance 16

a. Overview 16b. Lessons Learned 17

III. NATIONAL GOALS, POLICIES, AND PLANS 20 A. Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy 20B. National Water Policy and Related Policies 20C. Draft National Water Management Plan 22

1. Overview 222. Contents of NWMP 22

IV. PROGRESS AND ISSUES TOWARDS SECTOR GOALS AND OBJECTIVES 26 A. Institutional Framework 26

1. National Water Act 262. WARPO 263. BWDB 274. LGED 305. Local Government Institutions 316. Water Management Associations 32

B. Generic Institutional Issues 331. Collaborative Process and Working with Stakeholders 33

2. Quality of Construction 343. Operation and Maintenance 34a. Surface Water Management for Agriculture 34b. Urban Water Infrastructure 38

4. Corruption 39C. Key Technical/ Investment Issues 40

1 River Erosion 40



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V. DIRECTIONS FOR THE FUTURE 49 A. Priority Agendas 49

1. Water Policy and Plans 492. Reform and Restructuring of Key Institutions 503. Strategic Thrusts for Investments 54

B. Recommendations for Future Operational Strategy of ADB 601. Policy and Institutional Reforms 602. Investments 61

SECTOR ROADMAP 63

Appendix 1. Bibliography 69 Appendix 2. External Assistance to the Water Resources Sector 71 Appendix 3. Impact Summary 73

ACRONYMS

ADB Asian Development BankBAMWSP Bangladesh Arsenic Mitigation Water Supply ProjectBUET Bangladesh University of Engineering TechnologyBWDB Bangladesh Water Development BoardCIDA Canadian International Development AgencyDPHE Department of Public Health EngineeringDOE Department of EnvironmentECNWRC Executive Council of NWRCEGIS Environment and Geographic Information System

EIA Environmental Impact AssessmentFAP Flood Action PlanFCD Flood Control, DrainageFCDI Flood Control, Drainage and IrrigationFY Fiscal Year GOB Government of BangladeshGPS Global Positioning SystemHYV High Yielding Varieties

IDA International Development AssociationIECO International Engineering CompanyIWM Institute of Water ModelingJBIC Japan Bank for international CooperationLGED Local Government Engineering DepartmentLGI Local Government InstitutionMEO Mechanical Engineering Organization



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SSWRDSP Small Scale Water Resource Development Sector ProjectSRP System Rehabilitation Project

WARPO Water Resource Planning OrganizationWASA Water Supply and Sewerage AuthorityWMA Water Management AssociationWMCA Water Management Cooperative Association



BANGLADESH WATER SECTOR REVIEW, 20031

I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

1. This report records the findings of a review of the Bangladesh water resourcemanagement sector in 2003. The objectives of the review is to assess the recent policy, planand institutional development in water resource management, examine past interventions andlessons learned from those, outline the outstanding issues facing the sector and suggest priorityagenda for development partners, especially ADB’s role, in water resource management in thefuture. The primary focus of this report is on water resource management. To the extent water

issues are interrelated and keeping in mind ADB’s involvement, this report also touches onissues and policies related to water supply for domestic use.

2. The report is divided in 5 parts. The first part provides the country and sectoral contexts.The second part reviews the role of Government and donors until to date. The third part reviewsthe policy and plan framework including the draft National Water Management Plan (NWMP).The fourth part assesses the progress and issues towards the sector goals, and the last partsuggests a road map for the future. The source of the materials presented in the report is

abstracted or synthesized from existing reports (including background studies for NationalWater Management Plans) and discussions with local officials and experts.

A. Country Context

3. Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world with a per capita income of approximately $365 in 2001. High population density, poor resource management, andnumerous natural disasters coupled with frequent political turmoil have affected the economicand social development of the country over the past two decades. Economic growth has

remained low and poverty is prevalent among both rural and urban households. Since the early1990s, the country has been endeavoring to carry out a comprehensive set of structural reformsaimed at strengthening fiscal and monetary management, liberalizing foreign trade andexchange rate regimes, restructuring the industrial sector, and encouraging private sector investment. As a result, a degree of macro-economic stability was achieved, and the economyhas grown averaging 5% during the 1990s compared with 4% in the preceding decade, which isa reasonably good growth rate but still is below a rate that is required for a significant progresstoward reduction of poverty.

4. Over the last two decades, agriculture sector showed overall steady growth as a keysector of the economy, with an annual average growth rate of about 2.8%. Although the share of agriculture in the country’s GDP declined from about half during 1970s to a quarter now, thesector provides employment to about 60% of labor force2. Food grain production nearly doubledsince independence to some 26 million tons in 2002 and the country has been largely self sufficient in food production in recent years thanks to improved policy environment that



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communications. Along with the process there have been noticeable progresses on the socialfront such as population control, reduction in infant and child mortality and mul-nutrition, disaster

mitigation, mobilization of NGOs and CBOs in development activities, and democratic transition.

5. Despite these progresses, poverty remains pervasive in Bangladesh. The 2002Household Income and Expenditure Survey, along with previous rounds of the same survey,provide data on poverty levels and trend during the past decade. In 2000, 50% of Bangladesh’spopulation was poor, as compared to 59% in 1991-92. Thus incidence of poverty declined byabout 9 percentage points over the course of the decade. Throughout the decade, poverty inrural areas remained higher than in urban areas3. In 2000, about 85% of the country’s overallpoor population of 63 million live in rural areas. The poverty headcount index in urban and rural

areas were 37% and 53%, respectively.4

6. Looking towards the future, although population growth rate has slowed to about 1.6%per annum, in absolute numbers, this still means that total population will increase 40% by2025. The majority of the predicted population increase is expected to be in urban areas, i.e.,the proportion of people in urban areas will double in the next 25 years, posing significantchallenges to the infrastructure and services in urban areas.

B. Sector Context:

7. Main Challenges of Water Resource Management. Bangladesh is a lower ripariancountry located within flood plains of three great rivers, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and theMeghna. There are many tributaries and distributaries of these rivers and in total 57 rivers passthrough the country. These rivers drain a total area of 1.72 million square kilometers in India,China, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Over 90 percent of the catchment area for the rivers inBangladesh lies outside Bangladesh. As a result, huge inflows of water enter the country, over which Bangladesh has no control. The lack of controls is a critical problem because Bangladesh

has an agrarian economy dependent on water, and at different times within a year, Bangladeshhas either too much or too little water. The average surface water flow in peak-wet season(August) is nearly 112 billion cubic meters and in the dry season (February) is about 3.7 billioncubic meters. During the wet season (June – September), massive river flow in a flat deltatopography (which severely limits effective drainages) – further accentuated by high rainfalloccurring only in a limited four months period – makes flooding a recurring phenomenon.

8. Floods, however, vary in intensity. In a normal year, about 22 percent of the country is

flooded during the wet season. Sixty percent of the country experiences a flood every twenty-five or so years. Bangladesh suffered major floods in 1954, 1955, 1974, 1987, 1988 and 1998.The major flood in 1998, for example, inundated two thirds of the country, affected some 30million people, and caused over 1000 deaths. That flood also severely damaged theinfrastructure and homesteads and disrupted economic activities. There was also considerableshort-term damage to agriculture (particularly aman rice). Severe floods thus can have asubstantial adverse impact on the economy Floods however have some positive effects They



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9. Associated with floods are riverbank erosion and siltation. The Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) has estimated that about 1,200 kilometers of riverbank in the

major rivers is actively eroding and more than 500 kilometers face severe problems associatedwith erosions. The average sediment load that passes through the country to the sea is huge(0.5 to 1.5 billion tons a year), eroding an estimated 10,000 ha of floodplain land annually. Apart of the sediment is deposited on the flood plains as a short-lived and low-lying char-land,gradually changing its topography and seriously reducing the carrying capacity and navigabilityof the drainage channel.

10. Water scarcity in the dry season, which normally lasts from November to April is also anissue, characterized by a drastic reduction in the discharge of major rivers, drying of water

channels, falling water tables, and salinity intrusion. This is the season of greatest demand for groundwater. The Quaternary alluvium of Bangladesh constitutes a large aquifer with excellentstorage and transmission characteristics. While estimates differ, the Master Plan Organizationsuggested that the available recharge was about 21x109 m3. More information on ground water is required to make reliable projections of availability, but it has been instrumental to gains inagriculture production,5 and in meeting domestic and industrial water demand – both rural andurban. Nevertheless, the discovery of arsenic in this key resource has altered the planningframework, and created a problem of access to safe drinking water in the affected areas.

11. Coastal regions face severer water scarcity, with salinity intrusion and limited availabilityof fresh groundwater, in particular in the southwest, which faces acute associated environmentaldegradation and inter-sectoral conflicts in water use. A large part of the coastal region alsofaces another challenge: drainage congestion. The problem is severer in areas protected bypolders. The polders, while protecting the area from flooding and saline water intrusion, restricttidal flows that might otherwise keep the sediment in suspension and prevent deposition on thelow-lying lands.

12. Water Resource Management and Agriculture. Agriculture is the centerpiece of theBangladesh economy and supports the vast majority of its population. While the sector’s sharehas declined to 24% of GDP in 2001/02, it employs about 60% of the country's labor force. Foodcrops represent about 57% of the value added by agriculture, followed by fisheries (22%),livestock (12%), and forestry (8%). Paddy is the dominant crop, accounting for roughly threefourths of the total cropped area. Other important crops include pulses, wheat, jute, andoilseeds. Miscellaneous other crops include vegetables, fruits, cotton, sugar, and tea.

13. Crop agriculture showed strong growth in particular the latter half of the 1990s,particularly food grain production, which is estimated to reach 26.9 million tons in fiscal year (FY) 2002/03, exceeding the food self-sufficiency target. The resulting reduction in food grainprices has particularly benefited poor people in both urban and rural areas, given that 70 per cent of rural households are net purchasers of rice. This robust growth is largely attributed toincreased groundwater irrigation and an adequate supply of key agricultural inputs such asfertilizer, diesel, fuel, and high-yielding variety seeds at stable prices, and increased availability



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14. While the production growth rate has been much less dynamic, the large areas of thecountry is protected by flood control, drainage (FCD) and irrigation systems. In Bangladesh,

FCD systems are in the flood plains of the rivers or along the coast. Embankment along theperiphery provides protection against river floods or salt intrusion. Regulators are located inthese embankments to drain natural khals and to prevent backflow from high river levels to thelow areas within the polder. FCD systems are designed primarily to protect standing aus or boroagainst flood (early flood in haor areas and monsoon flood in other areas), reduce salt intrusion(in coastal area) and help growth of high yielding aman by excluding floodwater from theprotected area. Some FCD systems include irrigation (then called FCDI) to deliver water tofarmers’ field. Irrigation is practiced in FCD system through low lift pumps, tubewells or traditional irrigation devices.

15. Despite success in food production growth so far, continued growth will be essential tokeep pace with population growth (expected to reach 175 million in 2025) 7 and to ensure foodsecurity to the poor. Enhanced production of non-rice crop is also becoming increasingly criticalgiven the expected increases in income per capita over the coming decades. Meeting thischallenge of agriculture growth will require increased adoption of HYVs and availability of appropriate mix of inputs and expansion of rural infrastructure and marketing facilities. Inaddition to all these, providing effective and sustainable water management infrastructure will be

important to the required growth of crop agriculture.

16. Water Resource Management, Fisheries and Environment. Inland fishery production,which comprises capture and culture fisheries, also performed strongly in late 1990s and inrecent years, achieving annual growth rates of nearly 8%. Continued rapid growth in inlandfishery production will be highly desirable, given that it is an important source of income andprotein for the poor. Capture fishery production is stagnating due to over fishing, loss of floodplain habitat to agriculture and other activities and obstruction of migration routes by floodcontrol structures. Addressing these will require improved management of water control

structures, better understanding of fish migration behavior and enhanced conservation activities.Culture fishing production has substantial scope for further increases in water bodies such asponds, lakes, canals, and rice fields with effective flood management. Promoting access rightsof the poor to publicly owned water bodies and wetlands remains a key challenge, given theexisting Government system of leasing these out for exploitation through a bidding process.

17. The natural environment has also been under stress. Environmental degradation is quiteserious in terms of declining soil fertility and land degradation, loss of biodiversity due to

degradation of natural forests, wet lands and coastal environment. Water quality is also affectedby intensification of agriculture from increased use of chemical inputs. Given the fact that mostrural households depend on continued productivity of soil, water and fisheries resources, carefulattention to the conservation and management of the natural environment, should be a keyelement of integrated water resource management.

18 Water for Household use in Rural and Urban Areas. Water is a basic need and the



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tubewell is contaminated with arsenic exceeding the country’s standard of 0.05mg/l, effectivemitigation measures including the alternative sources of supply (such as rainwater harvesting,dug wells, etc.) need to be promoted in the arsenic affected areas, with operation of effectivemonitoring mechanisms.

19. Bangladesh has about 550 urban centers, including 64 district towns. The largest cities,Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, and Rajshahi account for almost 50 per cent of the urbanpopulation. Excluding these cities, there are just over 100 urban centers with populations above50,000 containing about 25 per cent of the urban population. The balance of the urbanpopulation is located in small towns. Water supply coverage is about 38 per cent in these urbanareas. Water supply in the large urban areas of Bangladesh has never been developed in a

planned manner. Rather, individuals and companies progressively sink deep tube wells asneeded to augment water supplies. The small urban centers are characterized by an almosttotal lack of piped water supply. Water is supplied mostly by hand tube wells, which is subject tovarious forms of contamination including arsenic and, where well maintenance is poor, faecalcontamination.

20. Urban Land and Water Management. As noted, rapid urbanization is a reality facingBangladesh. Urban centers play a crucial role in the economy, accounting for nearly 45% of GDP. Dhaka accounts for nearly one-third of the urban population. With expected faster growthof exports and services sectors, cities are expected to play increasingly significant role in theeconomy in the future. However, the rapid urbanization in Bangladesh is characterized by (i)poor air and water quality; (ii) high incidence of poverty (about 25% of the population live inextreme poverty); (iii) sub-standard housing conditions resulting from high land prices, insecurityof tenure, and lack of loan finance; and (d) limited coverage of piped water supply.

21. Water Problems and the Poor. As noted, half the population in Bangladesh is belowpoverty line and the poor are more predominant in rural areas (where the percentage of people

below poverty line is 53%). The poor in Bangladesh consists of landless, smallholders, small-scale non-farm operation, urban slum dwellers, displaced persons as a result of naturaldisasters and households headed by disadvantaged women. Poverty in rural Bangladesh ismulti-faceted: standard of living are low, health and nutrition are poor, education and healthfacilities are lacking, too many women and children have been abandoned, and few peoplehave protection or reserves to withstand natural disasters such as floods and cyclones.

22. For the country’s rural people, access to productive resources, particularly water

resources, is of fundamental importance to their livelihoods. Water is essential to the country’smain income source, agriculture, and to many other rural activities including inland and coastalfishing, water transportation, water supply and rural industries. The poor in Bangladesh facestwo kinds of water related problems: (a) lack of access to water and (b) exposure to water related disasters. In Bangladesh, lack of access to safe drinking water by poor people has re-emerged in areas affected by arsenic contamination of groundwater. Similarly, smallholders or the poor farmers having land at the low-lying areas affected by drainage congestion have only



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seasonal flooding is a problem, flood protection of agricultural land is desirable. On the other hand, many rural families, particularly the poor, depend for subsistence on the capture fishery,livestock breeding, jute processing, and other economic activities that require abundant water during the monsoon season. In addition, many rural areas depend on the waterways of thecountry for transport communication links. Rural households need adequate and safe domesticwater supplies, even as groundwater is increasingly exploited for irrigation purposes andwidespread arsenic contamination must be addressed. Finally, water is a vital resource for themaintenance of the country’s natural ecosystems and bio-diversity.

24. Given the pervasive poverty in Bangladesh, importance of water for the livelihood andwelfare of the poor, and diverse and complex implications to different stakeholders, it is of

paramount necessity for the country to manage its critical water resources in a strategic,integrated, and participatory manner to sustain economic growth and poverty reduction. Water resource management and development contributes directly to alleviating poverty in 3 major ways, in addition to helping poverty reduction indirectly by promoting economic growth:

(i) Ensuring rural water supply, hygiene promotion and sanitation;

(ii) Facilitating water for production and sustainable rural livelihoods, including pro-poor irrigation and ecosystem management; and

(iii) Prevention and mitigation of water related disasters in rural areas.

C. Regional Context

25. The four countries in the eastern South Asia (Bantladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) andChina share three large international rivers: the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna. The areadrained by these rivers altogether is the 12th largest in the world (1.48 million km2), and has thefourth largest discharge of water with the highest quantity of sediment transport. Consequentlythere are 57 transboundary rivers that cross the border between India and Bangladesh. With thebasin’s runoff heavily concentrated in the monsoon season, there has been an increasinglysevere competition on the use of the dry season flows in particular in the Ganges River over thepast several decades. This is mainly associated with the increased abstraction of water in theupstream regions of the basin in India. As a result, the dry season flows of the Ganges enteringinto Bangladesh have reduced substantially, and significant environmental changes have beenreported in its Southwest region that includes the Sundarbans.

26. India and Bangladesh has attempted to cope with this particular issue through a series

of bilateral water sharing agreements since 1977, following the construction of the FarakkaBarrage by India in 1975 at 17 km upstream of the border. The original agreement covered 5-year period. It was then followed by two short-term arrangements, but there was no agreementbetween 1988 and 1996, when the latest agreement, the 1996 Treaty on Sharing of the GangesWater was reached. However, although this treaty stipulates the water sharing arrangements of the Ganges in the 30-year period up to 2026, it does not provide a long-term guaranteed

i i fl t B l d h th fl f t i th G i bj t t b t ti b



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II. ROLE OF THE GOVERNMENT AND EXTERNAL FUNDING AGENCIES

27. This section reviews the evolving role of the government over the years in the area nowforming Bangladesh in 3 critical areas: (i) historical perspective and formulating water sector policies and plans; (ii) water sector institutions; (iii) water sector investments; and (iv) role andexperience of external funding agencies.

A. Historical Perspective, and Formulating Water Sector Policy and Plans

28. Zamindar System. Because of importance of water for the welfare and prosperity of people, various governments (central, provincial and local) have had taken a role in water

resource management in the Indian-subcontinent. There was a time when Zamindars(landlords) had a role in building and maintaining water related infrastructure - - a role that theZamindar used to perform with taxes collected from beneficiaries. Even in British India, localbodies (such as district and union boards) were given some role in water. The first step inestablishing central or provincial government role was taken in 1930s, when the Department of Public Health Engineering was established to provide safe drinking water. The Zamindar systemwas abolished in 1952. Then in 1954 and 1955 two severe floods occurred. Also, during the1950s, local government bodies lost their effectiveness and were, in any case, unable to copewith the magnitude of the flooding.

29. 1956 UN Technical Mission. A United Nations Technical Mission (Krug Mission) wasinvited to Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) in 1956 to study the flood problems. This resulted inthe creation, in 1959, of the then East Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority, whichalso absorbed the provincial irrigation department. Other recommendations of the Missionincluded: examine the feasibility of embankments along the major rivers; implement smaller flood control, drainage, and irrigation projects; examine the feasibility of a barrage on the TeestaRiver; raise homestead platforms in flood affected areas; implement zoning to restrict

construction of economic infrastructure where flood control cannot be ensured; and work withIndia and other riparian countries to establish flood forecasting in the common rivers.

30. Hardin and Thijsse Missions. In 1963, General Hardin (Ex-Chairman, Mississippi River Commission) reviewed water resource development in the country, and for the most part, hisconclusions were in line with the Krug Missions report. However, he also specifically proposedchannel improvements and confinement of river flows within embankments, as well asregulators in embankments to release water when flood flows exceeded design limits. The

following year, Prof. J. Thijsse of the Netherlands examined the flood problem. He suggestedthat the existing distributaries of the main river system should be maintained as long aspossible, and recommended channel improvements and embankments as a means of reducingflood hazard. However, he cautioned against confining unstable rivers between embankmentswithout thorough study.

31 1964 Master Plan The first major step in water plan formulation was the preparation of



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32. 1972 World Bank Study. In 1972, the World Bank helped in the preparation of a landand water sector study that emphasized integrated development of land and water resourceswith special focus on small scale (minor) irrigation. Also, during this time, integrated ruraldevelopment, based on Comilla experiment, peaked. In this program, planning at the level of thana (now called upazila) and implementation of water resource management project wereimplemented. Under this program, district and thana plan books, which were initiated in late1960s were further developed – books that aimed at providing integrated plans for flood control,drainage, irrigation, transportation and communication infrastructure at the thana and districtlevels. In practice, this integrated approach did not go very far for various reasons, of whichbureaucratization of the program was the prime factor. During this period, private sector irrigation using shallow tube-wells expanded in a big way.

33. National Water Plan in 1980s. In 1983/84, work began on a National Water Plan,whose objective was to consolidate the existing information base, to rationalize ongoing andplanned activities and to guide future investment in the future. Master Plan Organization under the Ministry of Water Resources completed the first phase of the work in 1986 and it providedan assessment of water resources and future demand by different users. This time the planrecognized the weak performance of existing flood control drainage infrastructure andemphasized the groundwater use for agriculture. The government of the time, however, did notaccept the plan, because it was heavily oriented toward engineering projects and did not payenough attention to inter-sectoral and environmental needs. Phase II, started in 1987,developed planning models, recommended strategies and programmes, presented a draft water law, and proposed means to institutionalize the process of long-term water management andplanning. However, the Plan focused too narrowly on structural measures for water development for agriculture, restricted its institutional focus on the Bangladesh Water Development Board, and limited its planning horizon to about 20 years. Events related to theunprecedented flooding of 1987 and 1988 upstaged this Plan (which was completed in 1991).

34. Flood Action Plan. The unprecedented floods of 1987 and 1988 had a lasting impacton the thinking and approach to floods. The immediate response to the 1987 and 1988 floodswas the preparation of a series of studies variously supported by UNDP, France, USA, Chinaand Japan. The World Bank coordinated the activities of these donors to prepare a Flood

Action Plan consisting of 26 studies and pilot projects. The FAP program and process graduallyproduced a consensus on the following. The FAP also produced guidelines for people’sparticipation in water sector investments and guidelines for undertaking environmentalassessments.

(i) The objective of water resources management should be flood management and notflood control;

(ii) More attention should be given to social dimensions – participation of beneficiaries isa key; and

(iii) Environmental consideration must be integrated into water resource management.

35 P t Fl d A ti Pl At th d f th FAP i 1995 B l d h i t d b th



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mandate and the task of formulating NWMP that would include national, regional and basinprograms with overall assessment of water supply and demand in the country.

36. Reforms in late 1990s. A milestone in formulating policy and planning for the water sector was the adoption of the NWP in 1999. This was done after extensive consultation withstakeholders, related sector agencies, NGOs, the civil society and major donors. The NWPexamined all water related issues of the country embracing multiple sectors such as agriculture,fisheries, environment, forestry, land, industry navigation etc. and provided guidelines for development, utilization and management of water in an integrated manner. The NWP alsodefined major institutional reform and the role of the government (including the decentralizationand transfer of water resources management schemes), the private sector and the civil society

in the management of water. The NWP has called for accelerating the development of sustainable public and private water delivery systems with appropriate legal and financialmeasures and incentives including formulation of water rights and water pricing.

37. As directed by the NWP, the Government revised its earlier formulation of the Guidelinesfor Peoples Participation (GPP) and replaced it with a Guideline for Participatory Water Management (GPWM). The guidelines lay down the mechanism for establishment and workingof beneficiary organizations like water management associations (WMAs) and their linkageswith state institutions.

38. In line with NWP, a National Water Management Plan (NWMP) has been prepared toprovide a framework guiding principles for future approaches and investments for water resources management in the short- to long-term. The principal feature of the NWMP is its focuson integrated water resource management. The NWMP was approved by the ExecutiveCommittee of the National Water Resource Council in February 2002 and discussed but notformally approved by the Water Resources Council in October 2002. Although not formallyapproved, the elements of NWMP have been incorporated in the Interim Poverty Reduction

Strategy Paper (IPRSP).

39. The Government policies for water supply and sanitation have evolved over severalyears. The National Policy for Safe Water Supply and Sanitation, published in 1998, amongother things defines the requirements for sharing the capital cost of water supplies andpromotes the concept of several delivery process whose focal position will be the user communities.

B. Water Sector Institutions

40. Institutions and the way they are set up would determine the long-term ability to managewater resources. Water policies and plans give the country’s priorities and indicate how thosepriorities could be achieved, but the institutions are the tools to realize them.

41 Legal and Regulatory Framework. Water sector institutions like other sectoral



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1882 – Transfer of Property Act1908 – Registration Act1950 – The State Acquisition and Tenancy Act1952 – Embankment and Drainage Act1958 – Inland Water Transport Authority Ordinance1982 – The Acquisition and Requisition of Immovable Property Ordinance1983 – Irrigation Water Rate Ordinance1984 – Cooperative Ordinance1985 – Ground Water Management Ordinance1990 – Land Management Manual1992 – Water Resources Planning Act

1996 – Water Supply and Sewerage Authority Act1998 – Local Government (Upazila parishad) Act2000 – Bangladesh Water Board Act

42. The legislation spans a period more than 100 years and there is clearly some overlapand redundancy. The National Water Code under preparation will take care of the problems of overlapping, outdatedness and redundancy of some of the laws listed above and will rationalizethe legislative framework governing the water sector.

43. National Institutions. There are basically four types of public sector organizations inconnection with water: (i) policy and planning, (ii) research and data management, (iii)development, service delivery and its regulation. Among these, the National Water ResourcesCouncil (NWRC) is the water sector apex body chaired by the Prime Minister, and is the highestauthority for formulating water policy and ensuring inter-agency coordination. NWRC issupported by an Executive Committee to ensure prompt action on routine matters, and toensure that issues requiring attention of the full Council are properly handled. The Water Resources Planning Organization (WARPO) was established under the Ministry of Water

Resources as the secretariat to the NWRC and serves as multi-disciplinary water managementplanning organization. This organization is to take account of the water management needs of all users and to develop and maintain an information base to facilitate planning for water resource development.

44. Regulatory agencies include the Joint Rivers Commission and the Department of Environment. The Joint Rivers Commission was set up under the Ministry of Water Resourcesto work with co-riparian countries in resolving issues related to trans-boundary water resources.The Department of Environment has widespread and unilateral powers to set and enforceenvironmental standards.

45. Key development project implementation agencies of water management investmentsare the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), responsible for projects exceeding1000 ha in size, and the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) responsible for projects smaller than this. However, other agencies do construct infrastructure that affects the



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Table 1. Water Sector Organizations: Their Current Functions and Major Issues/problems

Organization Current functions Major issues/problemsNational Water Council Approving national water policies Too few meetings and inadequate

service support from the Water Ministry

Planning Commission Establishing multisector investmentpriorities; recommending allocationof resources

Too much attention to routine andprocess matters; too little attentionto strategic direction

Water Resource PlanningOrganization (WARPO)

Water policy formulation; Nationalwater planning; monitoring;formulation of water legislation and

regulations; intersectoralcoordination of water plans; centraldata system

Limited physical resources and staff capacity to perform requiredfunctions

Geographical InformationSystem Unit

Collecting hydrologic, topographic,soil, and flood regime data

Support for continued existenceafter Flood Action Plan

Bangladesh Water Development Board(BWDB)

Project planning andimplementation; flood control andwatershed management; salinitycontrol; maintaining water channels

for transportation; regulating water channels

Weak implementation, andoperations and maintenancecapability; too large, centralized andtoo heavily oriented toward

engineering

River Research Institute(under BWDB)

Physical modeling; river-trainingstudies

Physical modeling for, amongothers, surface and ground water;inadequate funding

Institute of Water Modeling(under BWDB)

Mathematical river, floodmanagement, irrigation system,national and regional, andenvironmental modeling; and survey

and data collection; developing anational hydrological data base

Support for continued existenceafter Flood Action Plan

Flood Forecasting andWarning Center (under BWDB)

Collecting and disseminatinginformation

Lacks proper coordination andlinkage with the national Datacollection and monitory Units

Local GovernmentEngineering Department(LGED)

Planning, designing, andimplementing rural infrastructuredevelopment projects; Thana/Uniondrainage and embankmentplanning, irrigation planning, landand water use planning; small-scalewater schemes, canal diggingprograms, town protection schemes

Little or no coordination withBangladesh Water DevelopmentBoard and other agencies;inadequate authority for enforcingwater regulations

Roads and HighwaysDepartment (RHD)

Constructing and maintainingprimary and secondary roads

Road networks intervening withwater courses and affectinghydrological regime; little or no



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Organization Current functions Major issues/problemsDepartment of AgricultureExtension (DAE)

Disseminating information onagricultural technology, including

water and land use

Little or no coordination withBangladesh Water Development

Board and other agenciesBangladesh AgricultureDevelopment Corporation(BADC)

Operating low-lift pumps andtubewells; harnessing hill streams;controlling salinity; distributing water for irrigation

Little or no coordination with water sector agencies; inadequateresponsibility for enforcement of water regulations

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority

River conservancy work, includingriver training for navigational andmeteorological information,including river charts; hydrographic

survey; programming for dredgingand reviving dead or dying water bodies; developing, maintaining,and operating inland river ports;developing rural water transport

Inadequate coordination with water sector agencies; inadequateauthority for enforcement of water regulations

Department of Environment

Monitoring pollution in rivers andunderground and drinking water;working with other water agenciesto develop environmental protection

measures; collecting and analyzingenvironmental data; monitoring andanalyzing surface water for pesticides and heavy metals;analyzing wastewater samples for different agencies; helping agenciesprepare environmental impactassessments

Insufficient coordination with other water sector agencies; inadequateenforcement of water regulations

Source: Water Resource Management in Bangladesh: Steps Towards a New National Water Plan, World Bank,March 1998.

46. Local Government Institutions. Local Government Institutions have a key role inschemes of local development including water resource management schemes at the locallevel. As noted, National Water Policy requires that public water resource managementschemes with command areas upto 1000 ha will be gradually made over to local and communityorganizations and the local governments will own them. A review of the status of the localgovernment institutions (LGIs) is therefore important for an understanding of what role LGIs canplan in water resource management. In rural areas, local government system came into

operation from time to time at four different levels – village, union, upazila and zila.Unfortunately some sort of local government system exists (or is going to function soon) only attwo levels – village and union. The issues of development of local government institutions inrural areas are discussed later.

47. Urban centers consist of four city corporations and 206 Pouroshavas. Two biggest CityC ti t d b W t S l d S A th it (WASA ) hi h



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Pourashova on completion. Municipal Corporations and Pourashavas can play a significant rolein O&M of flood protection embankment project that safeguard the towns and cities.

48. LGED grew from a rural works program that started in the early 1960s. Its initial role wasto provide technical support to government bodies. But in the absence of well-functioning localgovernment system, it filled in the vacuum and became an executing agency for ruraldevelopment projects, which it implemented with participation from local people. Currently it isimplementing several rural development projects, many of which are donor financed. In regardto water resource management project, LGED draws its mandate from Upazila Parishad Act,which makes LGED responsible for ensuring the best possible use of surface water, for adoption and implementation of minor irrigation project in line with government directions.

Current LGED is the implementing agency of ADB financed Small Scale Water ResourceDevelopment Sector Project (SSWRDSP), of which first phase covered the western half of thecountry and the second phase of the project will cover the whole country.

C. Investments in Water Resources Management

1. Overview

49. Table 2 presents public investment allocation for major sub-sectors in water. The tableclearly shows that water resource management got the major share of public investment. Publicinvestment in water resource management has primarily focused on mitigating the negativeeffect of excessive annual fresh water floods in inland areas and tidal salt-water intrusion incoastal areas. Since 1960s, this activity has expanded with the proliferation of FCDI projects byWAPDA and then its successor in the water sector, BWDB. Table 3 presents the total allocationand expenditure in such project since 1991-92. Table 1 does not show any significant decline inoverall allocation to water resource management in current taka term, but a decline will beevident if expenditures are estimated in constant term. Resources for BWDB have definitely

declined since 1998-99. As a result of past investment by BWDB, there are today nearly 600schemes with various combinations of flood control, drainage, irrigation and salt water intrusionmitigation objectives, owned and operated by BWDB covering a total areas of about 6 millionha, almost 60% of the net cropped area of the country. Public investment in these schemes(projects) has been huge (about $ 3.4 billion up to year 2002).

Table 2. Water Sector Investment by Main Sectors (Tk. Million)

Sector 94-95 95-96 96-97 97-98 98-99 99-00 00-01Fisheries 1,212 1,121 760 290 475 855 779Water Resources(FCD, Irrigation, etc.)

10,811 10,480 11,107 10,410 7,358 7,099 9,916

Water Supply &Sanitation

3,989 2,915 2,797 5,230 3,859 3,771 4,348

Inland Water Transport 139 234 158 86 130 313 60



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Allocation ExpenditureYear Total Project

AidTotal Project

Aid

Totalexpenditure/allocation

Aid expenditure/allocation

1992-93 7,899.7(201.83)

5,269.5(1,346.3)

6,776.0(1,731.2)

4,515.4(1,153.6)

85% 86%

1993-94 6,098.7(1,524.6)

3,476.0(869.0)

5,260.0(1,315.0)

3,030.0(757.5)

86% 87%

1994-95 7,013.7(1,744.7)

3,841.4(955.5)

6,268.3(1,559.2)

3,292.2(818.9)

89% 86%

1995-96 7,266.0(1,779.1)

4,511.0(1,104.5)

5,344.01,308.5)

2,670.9(653.9)

73% 59%

1996-97 9,020.1

(2,112.4)

5,637.3

(1,320.2)

7,863.5

(1,841.5)

4,595.7

(1,076.2)

87% 82%

1997-98 9,440.3(2,076.6)

5,869.8(1,291.2)

8,748.4(1,924.4)

5,587.5(1,229.1)

92% 95%

1998-99 11,427.8(2,377.8)

7,322.4(1,523.6)

8,444.5(1,757.0)

4,606.4(958.4)

73% 73%

1999-00 10,945.2(2,175.5)

5,935.8(1,179.8)

9,298.1(1,848.1)

4,348.0(864.2)

85% 73%

2000-01 9,740.4(1,805.1)

4,412.4(817.7)

5,240.9(971.2)

1,960.9(363.4)

59% 44%

2001-02 7,863.0(1,369.1)

2,524.3(439.5)

6,804.7(1,184.8)

1,897.0(330.3)

87% 75%

Source: BWDB

50. The schemes (projects) range in size from less than 1,000 ha to more than 15,000 ha.By number, half the schemes are classified as medium sized (1,000-5,000 ha), but largeschemes account for more than 60% of the total area, each more than 15,000 ha. Only 20% of the schemes include infrastructure for surface irrigation and actual use of the irrigation has beendeclining since 1950s, as private sector ground water irrigation rapidly expanded. As a result,

today only 8% of irrigated land in Bangladesh is served by irrigation schemes. There have beensome investments significantly only from early 1990s, in other areas of water resourcemanagement – riverbank erosion mitigation, restoration of river (Gorai) and flood proofing.

51. The Government and external funding agencies have invested in improving water services in rural and urban areas. Considerable progress has been made, as noted earlier, inthe provision of potable water supplies in towns and rural areas in the 1990s, mostly throughprivate sector investments. However, as noted earlier, arsenic contamination of ground water

has become a serious health threat being assisted by several external funding agencies.

2. Impacts of Key Interventions – Flood Control and Drainage Schemes

52. The overall impact of FCD projects promoted under public investment does not seem tobe unambiguously positive. At best, the results are diverse, partly because of the diversity of

diti i FCD j t M j t it l i h d l i l t Th



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53. Success was mostly evident with protection against early flooding, whereas much lesswas evident with protection against salinity exclusion, reduction of monsoon flood depths, andsurface water irrigation (which is dominated by expansion of tubewell irrigation). The importantpositive impact in agricultural output from FCDI project was on Kharif cropping patterns, withchanges from broadcast aus/aman to locally transplanted aman and transplanted HYV aman.Cropping intensity rarely increased as a result of FCDI, but the yield level of paddy increased asa result of the shift to higher yielding varieties. Boro expansion occurred where protection fromearly flash floods or irrigation was provided.

54. The evaluation studies thus indicated that economic returns have been mixed at best,due mainly to the weak institutions to achieve and sustain the intended benefits. Of the 17

projects evaluated under FAP12, nine were found economically viable and eight were notviable. Logically one would expect a reasonable correlation between percentage increase inaman production and percentage increase in FCD coverage. The increase in yield would beexpected to come from a combination of a shift to more productive paddy types and thereduction of crop losses from flooding. In fact a study undertaken by Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in 1998 found very little correlation (with correlation coefficient of only 0.07) between percentage increase in aman production and percentage increase in FCDcoverage. A similarly low correlation was found between FCD coverage and HYV adoption. Thisstudy raises questions about overall agricultural impact of FCD investment.

55. Impacts on fisheries have been usually strongly negative. Overall social impacts havebeen positive, though the distribution of benefit has not been even. Capture fishermen andboatmen were generally the greatest losers whereas farmers, especially the large farmers, werethe greatest gainers. Other adverse impact has been increased social tensions and conflictsand dissatisfaction land acquisition of land required for FCD infrastructure. The polders andsluices have adversely affected the waterways, but the embankments serve as roads.

56. The results of smaller projects (covering 1000 ha or below) have been somewhat better.These projects are executed by LGED with ADB assistance using a participatory approach,which has now been mandated for all water resource management projects. One positivefeature of small-scale projects has been that they can be undertaken by identifying interventionareas having minimum social and environmental impacts and with closer interaction with thestakeholders. Taking a demand-driven approach with an arrangement to ensure sufficientinstitutional development prior to initiating physical works, initial institutional and physicalprogress has been good and major delays have not occurred, although it is too early to make a

judgment on their sustainability and impacts.

D. Support by External Funding Agencies

1. Overall Trend and Key Lessons

57 Total external assistance to the water sector in Bangladesh until now amounts to nearly



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systems in the late 1980s and early 1990s. More recently, there has been a further shift inemphasis to ensure stakeholder participation and improvement of operation and maintenance(O&M). There has been a trend among the donors to focus their assistance more sharply by

reducing the number of sectors and sub sectors in which they are involved. While selectionprinciples vary, the result is a changing landscape of support to investments in water resourcemanagement. Specifically, the Government of the Netherlands has increased its emphasis onthe water resources sector while the Government of Canada has reduced its involvement. TheWorld Bank has not approved any new water project since 1995. As indicated in Table 4, overallassistance by external funding agencies to the sector has been declining since 1995. Theleading factor contributing to this declining trend is the realization that major reforms are neededin the water sector institutions and the approach to water resource management, especially to

ensure adequate O&M of the completed infrastructure.

Table 4. Water Sector Assistance by External Funding Agencies(Million US$/year)

71-75 76-80 81-85 86-90 91-95 96-00 01-02 Annual Average 20 80 150 150 125 60 35Source: BWDB

59. Major lessons learned from assistance by external funding agencies include the

following.

(i) There is a need to develop a coordinated and integrated approach to water resourcemanagement after a careful review of the lessons learned from past; water sector project and programs. Here the formal adoption and implementation of justcompleted NWMP is urgently called for.

(ii) There is a need to pursue much more vigorously the program of institutional reformsto achieve the objectives of sustainability of the project and greater involvement of

and accountability to the beneficiaries in management of project;(iii) There is a need for revisiting the investment design and programs for water resource

management. The experience of past FCDI projects indicates that further largeirrigation development in Bangladesh is not necessarily opportune. However,rehabilitation of existing systems would provide high returns;

(iv) Operation and maintenance of completed infrastructure continues to be a keychallenge, for which a viable approach has to be designed; and

(v) The approach to management of water project has to change. Beneficiaryparticipation in planning and management of water project, formally linking with localgovernments, creating checks and balances to address governance problems, water resource management directly contributing to poverty alleviation are some of thedirections of change desired in the management approach.

2 ADB Assistance



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scale Water Resource Development Sector Project (SSWRDSP) and its successor LoanNo.1831: Second SSWRDSP. The SSWRDSP has also simplified the implementationprocedure by reducing number of implemented agencies to be dealt in implementing project, in

which LGED is the only executive agency with other agencies providing services throughMOUs. ADB has also initiated Loan No.1941: Jamuna-Meghna River Erosion Mitigation Projectto pilot test and establish cost-effective measures to mitigate the impacts of river erosionthrough low-cost technologies and non-structural measures while strengthening the central andlocal organizations.

61. Regarding the impacts of ADB assistance, according to the seven available Pr ojectCompletion Report and Project Audit Reports, four projects were considered successful,8 and

three were considered partly successful9

in terms of reaching the project objectives. (See Appendix 3 for summary of post-evaluation.) All investments resulted in increased agriculturalproduction, though in all cases, increases were less than anticipated at appraisal. The extent towhich on-going system maintenance was undertaken governed the sustainability of theseproduction increases. However, in three of the investments, the uncertainty was increasedbecause of erosion and potential for erosion of infrastructure from adjacent major rivers.

62. Institutional aspects (including beneficiary participation, executing and supportingagencies) were not incorporated to any great extent in the early investments. This changed over

the course of time with a corresponding improvement in the quality and sustainability of investment impacts. In other words, virtually all of the early financial support was directed atphysical infrastructure, which provided some level of, not necessarily sustainable, productionincrease. By extension, it could be argued that, despite increased levels of institutional supportincorporated into recent investments, even higher levels of such support are warranted.

63. Based on the experience of the design of institutionally complicated projects in the1970s, ADB improved the implementability of projects by reducing the number of primary

agencies involved. In part, this reduced time over-runs and contributed to the success of thelater investments. Environmental impacts of the investments were evaluated as generally either benign or positive. However, given that three of the early projects substantially altered floodplain regimes, it is probable that negative impacts on open-water capture fisheries were under-reported. Better data acquisition and more careful analysis were incorporated into later projects.

b. Lessons Learned

64. Over the course of the past two decades, the basic lessons learned have not changed

substantially. What has happened is that ADB has learned, through experience, how toincorporate more effective responses to these lessons, which are broadly categorized into (i)beneficiary participation; (ii) environment; (iii) planning; (iv) implementation; (v) O&M; and (vi)management.

65. Beneficiary Participation. That farmer organizations and beneficiaries have a crucial



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farmer organizations. Subsequently, BRDB’s mandate changed to working only with landless asdid their commitment to providing longer-term support of these groups. It was then recognizedthat the institutional framework also needed to be addressed to improve the performance of

agricultural projects. The underlying cause was cited as a development approach emphasizingGovernment ownership and management of facilities. It was further recognized that theprerequisites to achieving meaningful beneficiary participation included: (i) programming thatallowed sufficient time and resources to establish viable local organizations, (ii) the utility of providing a legal status for these organizations, and (iii) the need to ensure that there is a clear and well-defined process in place at all stages of project development to ensure theparticipation of beneficiaries. An important related lesson that emerged is the need for LocalGovernment to fulfill its mandated role in establishing, operating, and maintaining water

management infrastructure.

66. Current investments provide for programming schedules that allow time for local water management institutions to mature. In addition, various means to increase the role of LocalGovernment are being tested.10 This role clearly needs to include conflict resolution sincestakeholder interests are diverse and can be conflicting. At the same time, interventions need tobe selected with a minimum of social conflict. The next generation of investments in water resources management will need to consider that if “bottom-up” or participatory planning is trulypracticed, it will be necessary to view the investments as an integral part of the local

environment. This means that the linkages between water management (for agriculture andfisheries), transport, water supply, sanitation infrastructure as well as homesteads needs to beaddressed in a total development landscape.

67. Environment. The main lessons learned, by the early 90s, with respect to addressingenvironmental concerns are to incorporate environmental planning during project conception toavoid and minimize adverse impacts right from the start. Equally important is an environmentalmonitoring program during and after implementation to allow early identification if mitigation

measures fail or unforeseen impacts occur. Accordingly, environmental assessments are beingcarried out in line with the regulations of the Government, and guidelines of ADB. In theinterests of transparency, access to the information has been made public. In addition, a strongemphasis has been placed on an environmental monitoring program, particularly with respect tocapture fisheries. The latter because flood control projects often reduce the capture fishery,directly affecting the poorest segments of society since they lose access to a common propertyresource.

68. Planning. The experience of the Ganges-Kobadak Project is that planning further large

irrigation developments in Bangladesh is not necessarily opportune but that rehabilitation of existing systems provides potentially large economic returns. Planning projects along the major rivers needs to take account of the need for, usually costly, protection works, which affects thesustainability and thus the viability of the investment. The preparation of rehabilitation projectsmust be as rapid as possible and limited to restoring infrastructure to pre-flood levels. Theselessons are being incorporated in the design of new investments.



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requires rigorous attention. This lesson reflects an understanding that shoddy constructionaffects maintenance requirements and, more importantly, discourages both the involvement of beneficiaries and, in those instances where appropriate, the transfer of ownership to the

beneficiaries. It should also be recognized that poor construction is often not simply inadequateknowledge of proper construction practices but the result of corruption. Despite havingdocumented this as a lesson learned, investment projects are still designed without building inadequate oversight of the construction process.

70. O&M. O&M of completed infrastructure continues to present challenges. In this regardthe lessons learned are: (i) operation and maintenance related activities need to be initiatedearly in the project cycle, (ii) beneficiaries need to be fully involved and provided with training on

operating and maintaining systems, (iii) the capacity of the implementing agency to fulfilloperation and maintenance requirements needs to be factored into project design, (iv) wherecontributions for operation and maintenance are collected from beneficiaries as part of theproject design, they need to be collected prior to the commitment to proceed to implementation,and (v) cost recovery would be facilitated by providing a level of service for which farmers arewilling to pay.

71. All are important and have been incorporated into subsequent project designs.However, they do not adequately address the institutional focus on new development projects

rather than on improved operation and maintenance of existing facilities. A recent projectpreparation document, deals with this more directly in mandating that as part of theimplementation arrangements, procedures be agreed to that result in the executing agencysupervising completed schemes through sound annual technical, social, and financial audits.Establishing long-term management information on the operational status of projects, possiblylinked to subsequent investments, should be considered a sound initial step towards better maintenance practices.

72. Management. Lessons related to management of water sector interventions are: (i) theimportance of well established management information systems both during projectimplementation and during the post-project life, (ii) that coordinated support from variousgovernment agencies is workable but arrangements need to be clearly defined during theproject design stage, (iii) the commitment of the executing agencies to the poverty agendaneeds to be strengthened, and (iv) with regards to flood damage rehabilitation, projects need tobe prepared as rapidly as possible and disbursement arrangements should be simple.

73. Many of these lessons have been incorporated in recent project designs. However, more

work is needed on establishing effective means to increase the commitment of executingagencies to the poverty agenda. In water resources investments the poverty agenda isundermined through (i) circumventing a participatory planning and design process, (ii) failure toestablish sound local institutions to provide sustainable management of the infrastructure, (iii)constructing shoddy infrastructure, and (iv) corruption. These are all fundamentally driven by theconstruction activities since this is mainly where financial resources are allocated. So, in



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III. NATIONAL GOALS, POLICIES, AND PLANS

A. Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy

74. The Government has completed “A National Strategy for Economic Growth, PovertyReduction and Social Development” (NS-EGPRSD, or interim poverty reduction strategy, i.e., I-PRSP). The I-PRSP sets out a medium-term macro-economic framework, supported by publicresource provision to achieve the desired growth targets. It visualizes that by 2015 the countrywill achieve the following major targets: (i) reduce the number of poor by 50% (compared withthe level in 1990 that was 59%); (ii) attain universal primary education; (iii) eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education; (iv) reduce infant and under-five mortality rates by

65%; (v) reduce the proportion of malnourished by 50% and eliminate gender disparity inmalnutrition; and (vi) reduce maternal mortality rate by 75%.

75. The strategic pillars of the I-PRSP include (i) pro-poor economic growth to increaseincome and employment of the poor; (ii) human development to raise the capabilities of the poor through education, health, nutrition, skills training and social interventions; (iii) women’sadvancement and the closing of gender gaps; (iv) social protection to the poor againstincome/consumption shocks and vulnerabilities to disasters through targeted efforts; and (v)participatory governance to involve the poor in development processes. In promoting these

strategic thrusts, the I-PRSP emphasizes the accelerated growth in rural areas where most of the poor people live, and recognizes the importance of improved water resources managementto this end as well as essential means to cope with natural disasters, 11 although a criticalrequirement of integrated land and water development in urban areas to promote rapid urbandevelopment and urban poverty reduction is less emphasized. The I-PRSP is forming the coreof the Government’s Three-year Rolling Plan providing the basis for the annual budget.

B. National Water Policy and Related Policies

76. National Water Policy. The Government adopted in January 1999 the National Water Policy (NWP) that set out a comprehensive policy framework for the water resources sector,defining the sector policy objectives and laying out broad guidelines and institutional frameworkto achieve those objectives. In brief, these objectives are to (i) address issues related to surfaceand groundwater and their management in an efficient and equitable manner; (ii) ensure theavailability of water in due recognition of the needs of the poor and vulnerable people; (iii)develop sustainable public and private water delivery systems with appropriate legal andfinancial measures and inceptives including water rights and pricing; (iv) bring institutional

changes to decentralize the management; (v) develop a legal and regulatory environment for decentralization, environmental management, and sound investment climate for the privatesector; and (vi) build knowledge and capacities to design water management plans in a holisticand participatory manner.

77 The NWP then elaborates the roles and responsibilities of various sector institutions

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financial, environmental and social guidelines that will be followed in achieving the statedobjectives. Key institutional aspects having relevance to sector operations include the following:

(i) Planning and management of water resources is undertaken with comprehensiveand integrated analysis within the context of hydrological regions. WARPO willprepare a NWMP addressing the issues in each region and the whole country for theshort to long runs. Sector agencies and local bodies will prepare and implement sub-regional and local water management plans in conformance with NWMP.12

(ii) The local government will be developed as the principal agencies for coordinatingthe process of planning, design, implementation, and O&M of publicly funded surfacewater resources schemes, with participation of all stakeholders.

(iii) With declaration of state ownership of water, the Government reserves the rights toallocate water. Rules of water allocation will be (a) developed for in-stream needs,off-stream withdrawal, and groundwater recharge and abstraction, and will be (b)exercised in water identified water scarcity zones on the basis of specified prioritiesincluding the use of shallow groundwater aquifers.

(iv) The management of public water schemes with command area up to 5,000 ha will begradually made over to local and community organizations and their O&M will befinanced through local resources. Larger schemes will be placed under private

management, or joint management by the implementing agency along with localgovernment and community organizations.

(v) Regarding sector institutions, there should be separation of policy/planning/regulatory functions from operation/implementation functions at each level of thegovernment, and each institution must be held accountable for financial andoperational performance. Public service agencies will be converted into financiallyautonomous entities, with effective authority to charge and collect fees.

(vi) Cost recovery of flood control and drainage (FCD) projects is not envisaged for theforeseeable future.13 In case of FCD and irrigation (FCDI) projects water rates will becharged for O&M. Water charges realized from beneficiaries for O&M in a project willbe retained locally for the provision of services within that project.

(vii) The Government will enact a National Water Code revising and consolidating thelaws governing ownership, development, appropriation, utilization, conservation, andprotection of water resources.

78. National Policy for Safe Water Supply and Sanitation. This policy aims to improvethe standard of public health and environment with specific goals of (i) making safe drinkingwater available for each household in urban areas; (ii) increasing the coverage of safe drinkingwater in rural areas by lowering the average number of users per tube-well from the present 105to 50; and (iii) ensuring supply of quality water through observance of accepted qualitystandards, in particular supply of arsenic free water from alternate sources or arsenic removal inaffected areas among others In attaining these goals the policy adopted several strategic

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responsibility to the local government levels including WASAs, Pourashavas and citycorporations; (ii) increased user participation through greater involvement of people’sorganizations including women; (iii) prioritized programs for un-served and under-served areas;

(iv) economic pricing of water and gradual reduction of subsidies with safety net for the hardcorepoor; (v) encouraging and promoting the role of the private sector with complementarypartnership with NGOs/CBOs; (vi) adopting a range of technology options suitable to the socio-economic conditions of specific area and people; and (vii) capacity development at all levels.

79. Other Relevant Policies. Other relevant policies include National Environmental Policy(1992: providing directives on the legal framework and institutional arrangements to regulateactivities that pollute and degrade the environment addressing 15 sectors, in which

environmental audit of existing FCD projects were called fore); National Forestry Policy (1994:proposing 20% of geographical area of the country afforested by 2015 with special emphasis onnew charlands, denuded state forest, fallow lands and on the sides of road, rail, and floodembankments); National Fisheries Policy (1998: aiming at enhancing fisheries production withdue consideration of livelihood of capture fishery households and maintenance of ecologicalbalance, and highlighting the need for conserving fish habitat through prevention of further reduction of standing water bodies for agricultural development); National Agricultural Policy(1999: aiming at self sufficiency of food and increased production through diversification of crops in particular those for agro-industries and export, with an emphasis on efficient irrigation,

and sufficient supply of other inputs and credit).

C. Draft National Water Management Plan

1. Overview

80. The draft NWMP, which provides a framework to guide future approach and investmentin water resource management, was prepared in 2001. The NWMP is presented in 5 volumes,of which volume 2 is the main presenting the context, the plan and the implementationarrangement for the plan. The plan presents 84 programs for next 25 years with indicative or prospective financial requirement of $17.9 billion. The proposed programs are grouped into 8clusters (comprising 2 institutional and 6 investment clusters) and spatially distributed acrosseight planning regions of the country. In the short-term, the draft NWMP has heavily focused onthe institutional development and enabling environment, along with urgent programs such asmetropolitan flood protection, water supply and sanitation; urban and rural water supply andsanitation (towards meeting the targets for millennium development goals); preparation of national pollution control plan; and various other studies to fill the knowledge gaps. The

indicative cost of the proposed program for the next five years is about $1.5 billion. The draftNWMP is awaiting the final approval by the National Water Resources Council (NWRC), basedon which its highest priority programs are to be initiated. Once launched, its implementationneeds to be continuously monitored, and its contents regularly enriched and expanded on thebasis of relevant sector operations.

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management and their capacity development (including LGED and DPHE); (iv) establishment of independent regulatory bodies for water supply and sanitation services; and (v) capacitydevelopment of other relevant organizations such as Department of Environment, Disaster

Management Bureau, etc. Most of the programs are envisaged for implementation within 10years, except for the programs for LGIs that could take longer terms.

82. The Enabling Environment. This cluster is intended to provide necessary instrumentsto operate the key principles of the NWP, encompassing legal and regulatory framework; dataand information management including research and development; public awareness; andprivate sector participation and alternative financing of water sector investments. Programs for legal and regulatory framework include preparation of national water code and relevant under-

laws and regulations; preparation, testing, and refinement of various guidelines; andidentification and establishment of regulatory and economic instruments (such as groundwater regulation, water pricing for irrigation and water supply, regulation for wastewater discharge andpollution control). Programs for information management include strengthening of existing datacollection and processing facilities, and research capacities for technical, social, economic,environmental, and institutional issues. Institutional studies and follow-on reforms to create legaland regulatory framework for investor confidence are envisaged for private sector participationand alternative investment financing. Most of these elements of the enabling environment arealso envisaged for establishment within the next 10 years.

83. Main River Development. This cluster is aimed at the comprehensive development andmanagement of the main river systems for multipurpose use through a variety of measures,including a system of barrages, and other structural and non-structural measures. For the mainriver development, the programs envisaged start with studies for long-term development in mainand regional rivers in the medium-term with a focus on the Ganges dependent areas, followedby possible major investments for water abstraction including the construction of barrages andregional water distribution networks. Among the investments, however, the restoration of the

Gorai River is considered as a short-term requirement. The initial studies will also cover master planning of river training and hydro-power development, which will be followed by more detailedstudy in the next 10 years, and by investments afterwards. (The overall investment costenvisaged for this cluster is about $5 billion, with a focus of initial 5 years on the studies and theshort-term priority investment such as Gorai river restoration.)

84. Towns and Rural Areas. This cluster aims to satisfy increasing demand for safedrinking water and sanitation, and within the towns to provide adequate flood protection andstorm water drainage. The programs intends to achieve the full provision of safe drinking water

to the population (including arsenic mitigation facilities) within the next 10 years, increase theprovision of household piped water in towns and rural areas to 90% and 40% of the householdsand household sanitation coverage to 70% and 20% in towns and rural areas in 25 years,respectively, and provision of flood protection of all towns by that time. It also envisages thegradual increase of private sector participation in town water supply and sanitation to 25% of thecoverage by 2025. (The total envisaged cost for the cluster is over $5 billion with increasing

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sanitation sector to encourage private sector participation through management contracts, BOTschemes, and concessional agreements; introduction of market-oriented financial systems, andestablishment of necessary regulatory framework. (The total envisaged cost for the cluster is

over $6 billion with increasing level of investment towards the long-term.)

86. Disaster Management. This cluster includes disaster prevention and mitigationmeasures, preparedness plans and related warning systems especially at the upazila level,emergency response measures and post-disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation. Keyactivities include (i) cyclone protection through construction of shelter-cum-schools in areas of highest risk at appropriate density; and (ii) flood proofing for the rural population in the low-lyinghaor basin and in the charlands, and key feeder roads and railways. Strengthening and

operation of effective information management systems for disaster preparedness andmanagement is also envisaged. (The total cost for the cluster is about $0.5 billion withincreasing level of investment towards the long-term.)

87. Agriculture and Water Management. This cluster aims to expand and diversifyagricultural production and to maintain food security, with contribution of water sector to removeconstraints caused by shortage or excess of water. The programs places primary focus on thecontinued expansion of minor irrigation development through groundwater and low-lift pumps,mainly through private sector investments. Regarding the public irrigation schemes, improving

the performance of existing BWDB irrigation schemes is a priority, followed by expansion of such schemes where appropriate, i.e., in areas of limited availability or salinity of groundwater (e.g., in the southwest), and where feasible (e.g., in the southeast). As to the FCD systems, theNWMP envisages rationalization of existing inland and coastal FCD infrastructure that includesrehabilitation, improvement, and decommissioning, and handover of schemes to LGIs andcommunity organizations in accordance with the NWP. Studies and possible implementation of land reclamation and further protection of coastal areas are also envisaged. (The total cost of the cluster is slightly less than $1 billion, with initial 5 years focusing on studies and institutionalstrengthening measures, along with continued private sector investment in minor irrigation.)

88. Environment and Aquatic Resources. The key objective of the cluster is to ensureprovision of clean water for multipurpose and sustainable use, restore and maintain fishhabitats, preserve wetlands, and to protect the aquatic environment especially beinstitutionalization of environmental impact assessment and management procedures. Threekey areas of focus have been identified: (i) water pollution and control (with programs includingpreparation and implementation of national pollution control plan that includes anti-pollutionregulations and clean-up projects, and operation of national water quality monitoring systems);

(ii) water management for fisheries and ecologically sensitive areas (with programs includingformulation of national fisheries master plan, construction of fish pass throughout the nation,and improved water and environmental management of critical areas such as the Sundarbans);and (iii) public awareness raising for environmental management. Institutional reforms andstrengthening of the concerned organizations including BWDB, Department of Environment, andDepartment of Fisheries are also envisaged to support the programs. (The total cost of the

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Box 1. Brief NWMP Assessment

In the Bangladesh Water and Flood Management Strategy (BWFMS), NWMP was envisaged to

define a clear strategy and prioritized programs to achieve the NWP goals, and to provide a firmplan for the next 5 years, an indicative plan for the subsequent 5 years, and a perspective planfor the long term (for review and update every 5 years). It was to be prepared using theknowledge base of the National Water Plan, FAP, lessons learned from previous projects, andurban and sectoral water need projections. As a basic framework, BWFMS provided a short-term strategy to promote (i) institutions (policy, legislation, organization, expertise), (ii) social-economic and environmental norms, (iii) beneficiary participation and sustainable O&M, and (iv)investments to meet urgent sector needs, along with a long-term strategy towards operating (i)long-term perspective planning, (ii) integrated water and land use planning, (iii) achieving inter-

sectoral balance, (iii) basin-wise development with management of cross-border flows, and (iv)reforms to meet the long-term requirements. The NWMP was to be prepared building on theseand by assessing development options and priorities with intensive stakeholder consultation.

The draft NWMP has provided, through substantial work for information collection and analyses,a basis to this end, and its approval by the NWRC is currently awaited. Given that makingprogress on the required institutional reforms and priority investments is most critical, earlyconfirmation of the draft NWMP would be justified. Nevertheless, there are some aspects that

may be strengthened, possibly during its implementation in achieving the NWP goals mosteffectively. While viable assessment of the substantial NWMP outputs would require moreresources, key issues that might be relevant would include the following.

(i) The draft NWMP largely remains a framework plan for the entire period. While long-termstrategy and programs would remain indicative and perspective, its short-term plan may bestrengthened to provide specific and prioritized strategy and programs/project proposals,and realistically implementable targets, building on BWFMS and FAP.

(ii) In particular, actions and its timeframe to address the short-term strategy in BWFMS may

need to be thoroughly defined through assessment of actions already taken, remainingissues, options, and sequence of the selected actions. For example, involvement of LGIshas several options, whereas the ways to achieve sustainable O&M is still not so clear.

(iii) The draft NWMP may strengthen and further elaborate its regional plans to guide theidentification and implementation of specific local initiatives. This could be addressed bystrengthening its linkage and consistency with the relevant part of the FAP regional studies.

(iv) In implementing the NWMP, while the NWP envisages that LGIs and sector agencies willprepare and implement sub-regional and local water plans in conformance with NWMP, theprograms, process and arrangements to operate this end is not clearly envisaged (e.g.,coordinated planning for rural roads, highways, and railway embankments).

(v) The draft NWMP may consider strengthening its strategy, actions and programs to addresslong-term agenda identified under BWFMS, such as operating integrated land and water useplanning and basin-wise development, achieving inter-sectoral balance in water use, and

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IV. PROGRESS AND ISSUES TOWARDS SECTOR GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

A. Institutional Framework

1. National Water Act

89. In accordance with the NWP, a comprehensive Water Act is to be prepared to governownership, development, appropriation, utilization, conservation, and protection of water resources while integrating and expanding the existing laws and regulations. The ensuing actand its under-law and regulations are expected to provide institutional framework (includingorganizational responsibilities and managerial procedures and arrangements) to operate

regulatory functions including water appropriation, licensing, and water rights administration inparticular in the water scarcity zones to be designated under the NWP and for groundwater usein particular in arsenic affected areas; water quality management and pollution control; cross-sectoral demand management through regulatory and economic instruments. While an initialdraft has been prepared with the assistance of the World Bank (WB) for preparing the NWMP,the process has not progressed after completion of the WB assistance for the NWMP.

2. WARPO

90. WARPO was set up under Water Resource Act of 1992 and its mandate was further elaborated in National Water Policy of 1999. According to NWP, WARPO has two broadresponsibilities: (a) to work as the exclusive government institution for macro level water resources planning and (b) to work as the Executive Secretariat of the WRC and its ExecutiveCommittee. The various responsibilities assigned to WARPO by Water Resources Act of 1992and National Water Policy of 1999 would fall into two categories, namely: routine core servicesand periodic services. They can be defined as follows14:

Table 5. WARPO FunctionsCore Services Periodic ServicesMaintenance, updating and dissemination of theNational Water Resource Data

Update of the National Water Management Plan

Updating of water resource assessment Contribution to Five Year PlansMonitoring NWMP and its impacts Provision of adhoc advice on policy strategy,

institutional and legal issuesFunctioning as “clearing house” for all water sector project (this has to be further defined in

relation to Planning Commission)

Execution of special studies, research etc. asrequired from time to time

Secretariat to the NWRC/ECNWRCResponding to the NWRC/ECNWRC requests for information and advice

91. Clearly if these tasks are to be fulfilled adequately, WARPO will have to attract andretain a cadre of qualified permanent staff supported as and when required by reliable high

27



permanence. Adequate funding for WARPO establishment was provided only during the planpreparation (mainly because funds were available from donors) and very little before and after preparation of plans. These cycles of under-funding of WARPO establishment can be costly in

terms of loss of information and institutional memory. For the present staff in WARPO, career opportunities are limited and therefore their morale is low.

92. During preparation of NWMP, staff members of WARPO worked with a consulting firmand this has given WARPO good experience. However, the consulting firm did most of the workon the plan and the WARPO has not acquired enough skills and experience to extend or revisethe plan. WARPO has also acquired a national data set to manage and update periodically.Strengthening WARPO is, therefore, an important challenge for the water resource

management sector. The challenge is to find a way to place WARPO on a sustainable footingwith the necessary high caliber staff to serve as a center of excellence, which is the long-termvision about WARPO. The organization will have to be a multi-sectoral body and to perform itsrole; it has to work closely with the Planning Commission.

3. BWDB

93. Among the most important organizations responsible for future management of water resources in the country is the BWDB. There has been severe criticism outside and inside the

country about BWDB although it has been the main architect of water infrastructuredevelopment in past 45 years. This is partly due to the fact that although the focus of water management has shifted towards joint management, user directed activities, transparency andefficient management techniques over the years; the organizational culture is changing slowly.

94. The BWDB’s mandate has been to work as a sole agency for planning andimplementation of projects on flood control, irrigation, water resource management andprotection of coastal area. Over time, its original mandate has become inappropriate, as

economic, social and demographic changes and the consequent increasing competition for water use added new and complex dimensions to its original basic tasks. At the same time,there has been a change in the process through which development takes place. Initially publicinvestment was paramount and now with the growth of the market economy, a considerable partof the development activity has and should become the domain of the private sector.Consequently the role of public institutions has to change.

95. The NWP promulgated by the national parliament in 1999 provides the direction for future management and provides the future shape of water organizations. Under NWP, BWDB

will no longer be the only key player, the overall policy, macro planning and strategy functionswas taken out of BWDB (and given to a new multi sectoral organization, WARPO), and even for implementation of water projects local government and water users themselves was to assumeincreasingly important roles. In addition, BWDB will need to make the transition from a supply-driven construction focus to a demand-driven institutional development focus with integratedriver basin management approach concentrating more on efficient and effective operation and

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(i) Overly large and over extended organization;

(ii) Overly centralized;

(iii) Heavy emphasis on construction of project with inadequate concern for sustainingthem in the future;

(iv) Top management interference in operational matters and shedding of responsibilityby middle management;

(v) No multi-disciplinary focus;

(vi) Limited contact with the people using its services;

(vii) Units that have outlived their utility and would be better off as commercialorganizations.

97. The institutional reforms currently on the agenda are grounded on the principles of theNWP and to some extent, reflect the past studies related to organizational strengthening of BWDB. These are promoted mainly under projects assisted by the World Bank, in particular inthe context of preparing the Water Management Improvement Project, as well as the TwiningMission arrangements assisted by the Government of the Netherlands, and policy dialoguesand capacity development support provided under the ongoing projects assisted by ADB. In

particular, to work with the Twining Mission, BWDB formed a task force comprising senior andmid-level staff organized into five working groups (covering implementation of BWDB Act 2000;BWDB 5-year plan; procurement and financial management; human resources development,and services and revenue) to develop action plans for these five working areas. The followingare summaries of the latest reform efforts.16

98. Institutional Structure. In accordance with the BWDB Act 2000, the BWDBmanagement has been separated from the Governing Council.17 Accordingly, the role of BWDBwas modified to separate the policy and operational management, vesting many of the power formerly exercised by the Government to the new Governing Council, with an intention to makeway for increased autonomy of BWDB from Government’s closer supervision and oversight. Asa result of the reform, the BWDB management has increased authority in deciding onoperational matters, and the Director General is taking decisions, which used to be referred tothe Board and the Government routinely before. The DG has also been assigned with three-year fixed assignment to strengthen the management leadership. As to the managementstructure, central implementation wing and O&M wing were merged into two regional O&Mwings in 2002 to ensure staff integrity and smooth transition of schemes from investment to

O&M phase. As a move towards decentralization, while the Governing Council meeting in late2000 agreed in principle to separate zonal units as fully autonomous entities and to pilot test the

the institutional capability of BWDB by the international accounting firm SGV in 1988, (v) a study of BWDB under the Bangladesh Agriculture Sector Review done by GOB and UNDP in 1989, (vi) a study by IDA done under IDA

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concept in one zone, this has yet to be initiated. The Government has also decided to de-linkthe Mechanical Engineering and Dredger Organizations.

99. Staffing and Skill Mix. In 1998 the Government started implementation of a plan todownsize BWDB from 18,032 to 8,860 by 2006 through a natural attrition process. This hasbeen implemented with the current staff as of 2002 standing at about 12,300, of whom about2,000 belong to the Mechanical Engineering and Dredger Organizations, although non-recruitment of new staff has started to affect the staff cohort management. BWDB has alsotaken some steps to diversify its skill mix, by creating positions for a sociologist, and fishery,forestry, and environmental experts, and expansion of managerial positions for non-engineers,which was done in 2001. BWDB is also to prepare Policy and Service Rules for Recruitment,Promotion, and Job Rotation to ensure strategic skills development, and continuity in fieldoperation through fixed tenure assignments and on-site promotion. While these are all positivemoves, there is significant gap between the existing and required capacities in establishing andoperating water resources schemes with effective beneficiary participation through managementtransfer or joint management as envisaged under the NWP, which requires significant skills,willingness and dedication within the organization as a whole including engineers to support thedevelopment of and work with the local institutions as an accountable service provider.

100. Operational Procedures and Arrangements. In 2001, BWDB formulated the job

description for all professional personnel from Assistant Engineer through the DG therebyestablished a chain of command, individual responsibility and accountability. Towards the end of 2001, BWDB also reformulated its delegation of administrative and financial power, and detailedrule of business. BWDB is further pursuing procurement reforms under the ongoing BangladeshPublic Procurement Project assisted by the World Bank, has revised the standard biddingdocuments and is encouraged to publish contract awards and establish independent auditsystem. While these are aimed to strengthen the transparency and accountability of BWDB, theextent to which the changes lead to more effective and efficient delivery of services will dependon (i) strong leadership to ensure staff compliance with the established rules and procedures;(ii) ownership of BWDB staff to fully operate these initiatives, and (iii) establishment of effectivemanagement information and quality control systems to supervise and enforce their effectiveoperation without any leakage.

101. Budget and Financial Management. Assistance from Canadian InternationalDevelopment Agency (CIDA) is being provided to improve the accounting systems of BWDB aswell as WARPO (by establishing separate accounting functions in the field offices). While thisrationalizes the manner in which accounts are maintained and improves transparency, it has not

necessarily addressed the manner in which budget are allocated and utilized, which is a policymatter. In this connection, the Government agreed, in the context of the recently approvedJamuna-Meghna River Erosion Mitigation Project, to consider adopting a performance-basedbudget allocation mechanism, which will prioritize the allocation of O&M budgets on the basis of the performance of the project entities (e.g., on the basis of the irrigation service fee collectionand local resource mobilization for self-sustained O&M) for which specific policy will be

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102. Thus there has been some progress in reforms in some areas, especially in downsizingthe staff, in separating the management from the Board and in having appropriate and stableleadership. Progress has been mixed in changing the corporate management of the

organization and in financial and accounting reforms. Progress has been slow on some frontssummarized below.

103. First, there is no clear long-term vision within BWDB, although the draft vision statementwas prepared in 2001 that is currently reviewed under the twining arrangements. Second,although several actions have been taken and the task force seems to have done a good job,the overall progress toward the problems of BWDB (outlined earlier) has not been substantial.Only in disseminating the BWDB Act 2000, there was good progress. So far there is not muchprogress toward changing engineering orientation of BWDB, the skill mix and improvingcapacities in establishing water management associations, in decentralizing the role andfunctions of BWDB, and introducing participatory management practice in BWDB projects. Thework by Task Force has to be disseminated more widely within BWDB. The actions under thetwining arrangement need to be supported by financing under a new project or under ongoingprojects. Third, preparation for transferring small projects to local councils and water management groups has not progressed much. There was an attempt to transfer 4 projects, butno progress could be made for lack of funds in doing the preparatory work for the transfer.

Another possible constraint is the lack of community mobilization skills in BWDB – skills that are

needed for implementing the transfer program. Finally, one of the key reform objectives is toshed certain BWDB outfits, which can be operated on commercial line. These two organizationsare: BWDB’s Dredging Directorate (DD) and Mechanical Equipment Directorate. The plan for commercialization of DD was approved a few years ago, but only recently the Governmentapproved the plan to go for management partnership.

4. LGED

104. In 1982, under the Local Government Division of the Ministry of Local Government,Rural Development and Cooperatives, the Works Program Wing was created to administer therural works program.18 In 1984, this wing was transformed into the Local GovernmentEngineering Bureau and financed under Governments revenue budget and in 1992, wasupgraded into the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED). The activities of LGEDhave expanded beyond rural infrastructure to include urban infrastructure. Unlike manyagencies and departments in Bangladesh, LGED has not been plagued by frequent leadershipchanges and this continuity of leadership is reflected in the corporate culture of the organization.The organization is decentralized, tends to minimize bureaucratic procedures, works at the

grass-roots level, and is responsive to change.

105. The National Water Policy places the responsibility on Local Government for implementing investments in flood management, drainage, and irrigation with command areasof 1,000 ha and less. The technical arm of the Local Government is LGED, which historicallyhas had minimal involvement in surface water management. To respond to this mandate, LGED

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agenda is intended to buttress ADB’s support for the Second Small Scale Water ResourcesDevelopment Sector Project (SSWRDSP) and the changes are to be fully implemented by 2004.

106. Over the period of implementation of SSWRDSP and its second phase, a steadyprogress has been observed to institutionalize participatory and demand-driven approach of water resources development and management with an increasing attention to ensuring firmdevelopment of WMAs and resolution of any social and environmental conflicts of interests prior to initiating any physical works, thus generating increasing number of well-performingsubprojects where WMAs are capable of sustain the benefits on their own. In general, however,LGED’s capacities to ensure quality control of institutional development of water managementassociations (WMAs), physical construction, and WMAs’ self-sustained O&M processes remaina challenge, and need continuous strengthening by establishing sufficient capacities andfunctions in the central water resources unit to train and supervise field staff to these ends.

5. Local Government Institutions

107. The Provisions of the Constitution of Bangladesh (articles 9, 11, 59, and 60) and theLocal Government Ordinances mandate the Union Parishad, Upazila Parishad, and ZilaParishad with a wide range of development functions including planning for the provision of general physical infrastructure such as roads, culverts, bridges, potable water supplies, flood

control, and irrigation infrastructure. The Ordinances specify that development activityimplemented by Government and Non-Government Organizations, is to be coordinated by theUnion Parishad and Upazila Parishad within their territorial and functional jurisdiction. The UnionParishad is also empowered to protect government property, public easement land, khas land,rivers, canals, and water bodies from encroachment through the exercise of its judicial powers.

108. At present, the Zila is an important administrative unit of the central government with noelected local government institution. The Zila administration consists of representatives from thevarious line agencies. The Deputy Commissioner fulfils an informal leadership role and hastraditionally coordinated development activities, though without legal jurisdiction over officers of other departments posted to the Zila. In a more recent development, Ministers conduct theDistrict coordination meetings. The Zila Parishad Act specifies that a Zila Chairman will beelected to establish local government at this level.19 The Zila Parishad will then consist of theone Chairperson elected by the people within the District, supported by the elected UpazilaChairpersons.

109. In parallel to the Zila, the Upazila at present is an administrative unit of the central

government with no elected local government institution. The Upazila administration alsoconsists of representatives from the various line agencies. While the Upazila Nirbahi Officer canplay a coordinating role, he has no legal jurisdiction over officers of other departments posted atthe Upazila. The Upazila Parishad Act specifies that elections will be held at the Upazila toestablish a local government at this level.20 The elected Upazila Chairman will then become theexecutive head of the Upazila Parishad. On the other hand, the Union Parishad consists of an

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Experience has shown that the support of the Union Parishad Chairman, either tacit or active, isessential if any activities are to be carried out within this jurisdiction.

110. From the foregoing, it is clear that representative Local Government presently exists onlyat the Union Parishad. The compulsory functions of the Union Parishad include adoption andimplementation of development schemes in the fields of irrigation and flood protection.However, there are difficulties. Firstly, the Union Parishad is unclear of its roles, rights, andresponsibilities defined under the Local Government Ordinance. Secondly, in part because of the centralized operational structure of government, development projects and funds arechanneled through the technical departments with the result that the Local Government hasbeen unable to develop experience in implementing their own development activities.21 Nevertheless, there is a need to involve creatively local government institutions in the design of investment initiatives to ensure that the public is engaged throughout the process.

111. The NWP envisages the involvement of Local Government in the following areas:

(i) Local Governments (Parishads) will be principal agents for coordinating theparticipation of project-affected persons in planning, design, implementation, andoperation and maintenance of publicly funded surface water development plans andprojects.

(ii) Local Governments are mandated to encourage people to reduce water pollution andwastage.

112. The NWP poses a further dilemma with regard to Local Government. The policyspecifies that “Ownership of FCD and FCDI projects with a command area of 1,000 ha or lesswill gradually be transferred to the local governments, beginning with the ones that are beingsatisfactorily managed and operated by the beneficiary/community organizations.” There aretwo difficulties. The local government as an owner may not necessarily be a user (in a directsense) and consequently there will be limited interest in ensuring operation and maintenance of

the systems. More importantly, this results in a constantly increasing inventory of infrastructurefor which Government is responsible.22 A more practical approach would be to transfer smallprojects to community organizations directly benefiting from the project and to establish asupporting role for Local Government. There is precedence where Government has divesteditself of the ownership of various industries.

113. On the other hand, there are elected representatives in urban centers including citycorporations and Pourashivas. (Responsibilities for planning, design, construction, and O&M of

water infrastructure (vis-à-vis BWDB and DPHE) including flood control, drainage, water supply,and sewerage to be explained, along with key institutional issues.)

6. Water Management Associations

114. According to the Government’s Guidelines for Participatory Water Management

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should be registered under the Cooperatives Societies Ordinance and Rules until such time thatthe separate rules for registration would be established based on the experience of cooperatives framework. Following the guidelines, a large number of WMAs have been

established under several water sector projects implemented by BWDB and LGED. Theavailable experience has indicated that, while the cooperatives framework is advantageousgiven the ready availability of essential regulatory services provided by the Department of Cooperatives as well as of its facility to expand the scope of WMAs to undertake diverseeconomic activities, these may also divert the attention of the stakeholders from the coreactivities of water management. Careful assessment of the initial experience and alternativeoptions is necessary to define most appropriate legal framework of WMAs.

B. Generic Institutional Issues

1. Collaborative Process and Working with Stakeholders

115. The GPWM represents progress in that they document a process to be followed at eachstage of developing an intervention. Nevertheless, the prescribed process tends to codify thestatus quo falling short of promoting meaningful participation by promoting concepts such as theexecuting agency will assess the capacity of local stakeholders for participation. In general, theguidelines approach the participation issue from the perspective of devising mechanisms and

procedures to encourage local stakeholders to participate in achieving the objectives of theexecuting agency rather than the reverse – establishing mechanisms to ensure that theagencies are better able to respond to the local stakeholders. Nevertheless, there isacknowledgement that the guidelines provide an outline for stakeholder participation and thatthe concerned implementing agencies will develop their own procedures. There is a further acknowledgement that these guidelines will have to be updated regularly.

116. During the past years, BWDB has undertaken preparation of a number of feasibility levelstudies. There is little evidence that the process followed in this planning exercise differedsignificantly from past practice. LGED has progressed further in this regard in part because of its close proximity to local government, in part because it deals with more manageable small-scale interventions, and in part because of stipulations associated with the one large project thatis under implementation. Nevertheless, there is considerable room for improvement in bothagencies. As a starting point, within both these agencies, management level commitment isneeded combined with a designated responsibility center that provides direction as well asoversight to pursue seriously an agenda that promotes participatory water resourcesmanagement.

117. The disparity between the guidelines (what should happen) and practice (what doeshappen) is also a logical outcome of the lack of emphasis on training. To successfullyimplement investments in a manner that ensures meaningful participation of direct stakeholdersis a complex task that requires substantial managerial and technical skills. The guidelines, aswith many institutional and policy changes, are promulgated by the Government but the

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2. Quality Construction

118. Stakeholder participation will have little sustainable impact on investment efficiency if the

infrastructure with which they are provided is either inappropriate or dysfunctional. The former can be dealt with through appropriate consultative processes during planning. The latter,however, is a quality issue that is under the control of the executing agency. Both agencies(BWDB and LGED) have demonstrated difficulty in delivering quality infrastructure thoughBWDB’s capability in constructing hydraulic structures is stronger.

119. Common causes include:

(i) Planning and design studies, often carried out through private sector firms that do

not reflect the needs of beneficiaries, impacting on infrastructure quality. Thisreflects in part weak management on the part of the implementing agencies and theability of the private sector to respond to the changing priorities in the sector.

(ii) Contractors who, often because of inexperience, bid work at well below theengineers estimate with the attendant results that include delays and/or the use of inferior or insufficient materials. Where contractors have patrons, control andmanagement also becomes an issue.

(iii) Uneven fund flows hamper implementation. During the first two quarters of the fiscal

year, funds are generally released in accordance with the budget. As the year progresses, Government priorities change, with the result that funding during the lasttwo quarters becomes uncertain.

3. Operation and Maintenance

a. Surface Water Management for Agriculture

120. The NWP stipulates the following regarding the O&M of water resources schemes.(i) For FCDI projects, water rates will be set to cover the full delivery cost of the

irrigation component.

(ii) Collection of these fees will, to the extent possible, be undertaken through meanssuch as leases with beneficiaries and other target groups given preference for suchcontracts.

(iii) Government will finance all other operation and maintenance costs for theforeseeable future.

(iv) Water charges realized from beneficiaries for O&M in a project will be retained locallyfor the provision of services within that project.

(v) Effective beneficiary participation and the commitment to pay for O&M will berealized at the project identification and planning stages.

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122. O&M Status in BWDB. The most important reason of inadequate O&M is, inadequateresource at the ‘disposal’ of BWDB to do timely and adequate maintenance. BWDB has never had a sound and sustainable financial base for the O&M activities. BWDB has continuously

suffers from an inadequate revenue budget, which meets only a fraction of its needs. Thebackground work done for the NWMP shows that the total maintenance expenditure between94/95 and 97/98 was about Tk.1,300 million, as against total funding requirement of Tk.4,500million for maintenance. So according to this estimate the total resources available for maintenance was only one third of the requirement. Another study (FAP26) also came up withsimilar finding for the years 1992/93 and 1993/94. The O&M budget for those years was onlyenough to meet 34% of O&M needs.

123. In recent years, the funding situation is even worsening. The draft Final Report of theWater Management Improvement Project to be assisted by the World Bank records that theactual total recurrent expenditure (including wheat under food for work program) in 1997-98 wasTk. 1984 million ($41 million), some 30% decline from the level of the previous years. A recentfigure since 1998-99 also shows a declining trend, but not as pronounced as was the case in1997-98. For example, the revenue budget allocation in 2001-2002 for BWDB was 12% lessthan the previous fiscal year. Since the wage bill paid out of the revenue budget keeps on rising,the actual expenditure going to O&M has fallen faster than the decline in revenue budget. Theactual expenditure on repairs from revenue budget that year was almost 22% less than the

previous year. With such inadequate O&M, many projects would quickly fall in disrepair andwould need rehabilitation work.

124. To augment resources for O&M, it was always felt that a part of the burden could beborne by the beneficiaries. But the failure to involve beneficiaries in the early stages of projectshas not helped the case, because there is no sense of ownership a situation made worse by therise of dis-benefits (e.g. drainage congestion in some areas) from some schemes. Lack of sense of ownership by beneficiaries makes it difficult to share with them the burden of operationand maintenance.

125. At present, public cuts of embankments are cited as evidence of dissatisfaction of thepublic with the schemes. In fact, this may not be the case. The cuts should be viewed astraditional and cost effective way letting water in when farmers need it 23. This illustrates theneed for a more beneficiary participation in management, which would help in taking timely stepfor the benefit of the farmers and achieving a meaningful O&M burden sharing. To ensure better O&M of water project, NWP provides for handing over selected water management tostakeholders. Table 6 records what is ultimately envisaged for the completed BWDB projects.

The ultimate arrangements (according to NWP) envisages transfer of ownership of the smallschemes (those below 1,000 ha) to local government and management to WMAs, transfer of management of schemes between 1,000 ha and 5,000 ha to WMAs, with ownership remainingwith BWDB. Finally transfer of management of schemes over 5,000 ha to a joint teamconsisting of WMAs and Local Government with ownership remaining with BWDB.

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Only recently elections have been held for some of the local bodies and more time will beneeded before these Local Government Bodies would be able to take over ownership of thesmall schemes (covering up to 1,000 ha). Second, many of the water schemes are not properly

functioning; so the intended beneficiaries are not deriving any benefit from those. Many of thesehad fallen in serious disrepair and some may actually be generating dis-benefits. So it is nowonder that the intended beneficiary groups are not rushing to get involved, which to someextent could have been possible even without full-fledged local government in place. In contrast,in managing many small scale FCD schemes, beneficiaries are participating and sharing a partof O&M cost. Third, there is some reluctance on the part of BWDB officials to part with water sector infrastructures because of the fear that their maintenance would further suffer.

Table 6. Ultimate Arrangement for Management of Water Sector Schemes Projects/

Scheme size24

Number of

BWDB Projects/Schemes

25

Areacovered

(hectares)

ManagementResponsibility

Ownership

Up to 1,000Hectares

104 40,127 WMAs LocalGovernment

1,000 – 5,000hectares

210 574,919 WMAs BWDB

5,000 – 15,000Hectares

148 1,202,246 Joint Management byBWDB with stakeholders

BWDB

More than 15,000hectares

82 4,181,118 Same as above BWDB

Total 544 5,998,410

127. Even with fully functioning status of the water schemes, adequate provision of maintenance of the schemes would not be possible under the present financial position. Thenormal year allocation for BWDB recurrent budget is about $30 million, whereas themaintenance of nearly 600 water infrastructures (at a total cost of about $ 3.4 billion) would

require at least $90 million a year for adequate maintenance. Some estimates would put annualmaintenance requirement at a much higher figure.

128. Need for Beneficiary Participation. Depending entirely on Government budgetresources for O&M does not seem plausible. In fact, allocation from government budget hasbeen lately declining even though the total O&M needs are in fact increasing. As per nationalwater policy and guidelines for participatory management transferring some completed projectsto and assumption of financial burden by, beneficiary groups are desirable and should bepossible to some extent. But one should not expect that this would be the cure for all the O&M

problems now faced.

129. Since national resources were not adequate for proper upkeep of the infrastructureconstructed, many progressively fell in disrepair. As the conditions progressively deteriorated,several attempts, with donor help, were made to rehabilitate the infrastructure. As for example,System Rehabilitation Project (SRP) was undertaken with support from the World Bank to

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Food for Work Program, Embankment Maintenance Groups (EMGs) consisting of landlesswomen have been established in some BWDB completed projects to do preventive/routinemaintenance. Similar groups of landless men have been established as Canal Maintenance

Groups (CMGs). So far more than 2,000 EMGs and CMGs have been established. Suchprograms have been well intentioned and proved quite effective as a mechanism for routinemaintenance. However, wheat used for payment has caused some problems and a reportFAP13: Operation and Maintenance Study estimates that there is leakage of 20-35% in the foodfor work program. The system has now been adapted to include part monetary payment whenfunds are available. Besides routine maintenance, a system has also been introduced for periodical/annual maintenance with the help of landless contracting societies – a system thatmust be widely replicated.

131. However, these are externally funded, and far from sufficient to fulfill the gap required for sustainable O&M of FCD(I) schemes, calling for the need for local resource mobilizationwherever possible. Nevertheless, one should also note here that NWP does not even providefor cost recovery for flood or coastal protection. So the first step toward cost sharing will beamendment of NWP. Furthermore, the non-applicability of exclusion principle would make ithard to charge fees for flood or protection from salinity in coastal areas. Betterment or protectiontax will be the option to pursue and this will involve a though review of the present legalframework and powers and functions of local government bodies.

132. O&M Financing for Public Irrigation Schemes. The resource gap for O&M of irrigationfacilities under some of the BWDB schemes, where NWP permits charging of irrigation feesfrom beneficiaries, is even more serious. Experience with cost recovery for irrigation has beendismal. A background paper for NWMP records that as of 1997-98, water rates were chargedonly in six of the 15 large schemes involving surface water irrigation, although by end 2000, thesystem was extended to another six and rates were raised. Currently the irrigation fees varybetween Tk. 250-500 per ha per year.

133. According to the background paper for NWMP and paper from BWDB, the followingsums were collected from six schemes26 involving irrigation for the period 1994-95 to 2001-02.

Table 7. Irrigation Service Fee CollectionYear Total sum assessed

(TKM)Total sum collected

(TKM)Percentage of

collection1994-95 36.5 1.4 4%1995-96 18.9 1.8 10%

1996-97 15.3 1.0 6%1997-98 28.4 0.7 3%1998-99 21.6 0.8 4%1999-2000 11.0 0.2 2%2000-2001 8.00 0.2 2%Source: NWMP and BWDB

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low collection has been partly due to procedural complexities including neglect of beneficiariesin the assessment and collection process. Even though legal provisions for collection of water rate have been in place for some time (through 1983 Water Rate Ordinance), the enforcement

mechanism is weak and collection is minimal.

135. One should also note here that Tk.250 assessed (for most projects) per irrigable ha iseven less than 10% of what is needed for O&M alone (leaving aside the depreciation of thecapital) and the actual collection is below 5% of the assessed fee. This illustrates the nature of the gap that exists in cost recovery and the burden that the Government has to bear if itsrevenue budget remains the only source for meeting O&M expenditures.

136. A careful evaluation was made of the O&M budget and expenditure position of GangesKobadak Irrigation Project, the largest surface water irrigation project. The evaluation studyfound that BWDB budgeted O&M costs in 1997-98 were about Tk.2,650 per ha, whereas theactual allocation between 1995-98 has been Tk.1,640 per ha per annum. ADB estimated thelevel of O&M funding required for project sustainability to be about Tk.3,880 per ha. Against thisrequirements, consider the charged fee of Tk.500 per ha 27 of which no more than 4% wascollected. This illustrates further the gap that now exists in respect to large irrigation projects.The experience with GK or for that matter with all other BWDB schemes involving irrigation doraise question about desirability of surface water irrigation schemes for areas where ground

water is available for irrigation.

137. In recent years, the Government has renewed their efforts to improve the O&M costrecovery of public irrigation schemes through the ADB-assisted Loan No. 1399: Command AreaDevelopment Project, focusing on the two FCDI subprojects: Pabna Irrigation and RuralDevelopment Project and Meghna-Dhonagoda Irrigation Project. The loan has assisted therehabilitation of the irrigation canal network and establishment of the joint managementframework following the NWP with the formation of local water management associations(WMAs). Improved irrigation service fee collection system is also being established with thepreparation of the new regulation (Regulation on Irrigation Service Fee (ISF) Imposition,Collection and Usage) that authorizes the project authorities to retain and utilize the ISFcollected through WMAs. ISF has also been substantially increased and its collection is beingstarted. Its process, arrangements, and performance is closely monitored under the said projectand the follow-on Loan No.1941: Jamuna-Meghna River Erosion Mitigation Project that isproviding support for riverbank protection in the same project area.

b. Urban Water Inftastructure

138. Bangladesh has about 550 urban centers, including 64 district towns. The largest cities,Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, and Rajshahi account for almost 50 per cent of the urbanpopulation. Excluding these cities, there are just over 100 urban centers with populations above50,000 containing about 25 per cent of the urban population. The balance of the urbanpopulation is located in small towns.

39



an almost total lack of piped water supply. Rather, water is supplied mostly by hand tube wells,which is subject to various forms of contamination including arsenic and, where wellmaintenance is poor, faecal contamination.

140. The Government’s policies for water supply and sanitation have evolved over the pastseveral years. The National Policy for Safe Water Supply and Sanitation, published in 1998,among other things, defines the requirements for sharing the capital cost of water supplies, andpromotes the concept of a service delivery process whose focal point will be the user communities. The National Water Policy allocates the highest priority to domestic and municipaluse in times of water shortage, aims to facilitate availability of safe and affordable drinking water supplies, and sets out to protect the interests of low-income water users. The improvements inthe policy framework are not buttressed by improved institutional capacity.

141. At the national level, the Local Government Division of the Ministry of Local Government,Rural Development, and Cooperatives is responsible for administering development by the localgovernments, including those in the water supply and sanitation sector. Under this Division, theDepartment of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) is responsible for providing water supply andsanitation services. In Dhaka and Chittagong, autonomous water and sewerage authoritiescarry out water supply, sewerage, and drainage development. In the medium-size urbancenters, the Pourashavas are responsible for water supply and sanitation services.

142. A number of factors leading to poor operation and maintenance of water supply systemshave been identified. Key among these are:

(i) Community involvement in the systems has been low, in large part because of thelimited capability of DPHE to provide guidance to the Pourashavas in this area.

(ii) O&M costs far exceed the revenue generated from taxes and tariffs. For FY 2000,water supply operation and maintenance costs for 61 District Pourashavas werereported as Tk.617 million while income was reported as Tk.6 million.

143. Failure to improve operation and maintenance of the existing water supply systemsresults in wastage and illegal use and mitigates against system expansion. This in turn impactsheavily on the low-income and hard-core poor among the urban population since they have themost limited access to potable water. In this regard, ADB’s strategy, which is consistent withpolicies of Government is to (i) strengthen cost recovery and financial management, (ii) improvefinancial self-sufficiency through improved billing, revenue collection and tariffs, (iii) facilitatecommunity participation to achieve long-term service sustainability through community

management of the services.

4. Corruption

144. This issue is strongly interwoven with the capacity to manage effective delivery of water resources interventions discussed above. It variously affects, staff appointments and transfers

40



145. It is arguable that, in its various forms, corruption acts in direct conflict with the povertyagreement signed between ADB and Government and, more broadly, undermines the povertyagenda of all development partners, by reallocating and misallocating resources intended to

improve the welfare of specified target groups. Whilst no one agency or department canaddress this in isolation, it is necessary to keep this issue on the agenda, and to the extentpracticable, incorporate measures that provide a reasonable level of oversight. Measures couldinclude: establishing corruption as a factor determining ADB’s continued involvement in asector; at a project level, obtaining personal commitments from the most senior executive(s) of the executing agencies to control misallocation of funds; and conducting running audits thatdetermine subsequent fund releases.

C. Key Technical Issues

1. River Erosion

146. Most traditional structural flood control projects in Bangladesh have involvedconstructing embankments to confine river floods. However, along many of the rivers in thecountry, much of the damage to human settlements and infrastructure has been causedprimarily by riverbank erosion and channel instability, not from periodic flooding or inundation.This is because most of the rivers flow through unconsolidated sediments of the Ganges-

Brahmaputra-Meghna floodplain and delta, which are susceptible to erosion by river current andwave action. Bank erosion includes bank slumping due to undercutting and local scouring,progressive channel shifting and avulsion formation, which involves the creation of newchannels during floods. The Teesta, Brahmaputra, Ganges, Meghna, and Surma-Kushiyrarivers all flow within well-defined meander belts on extensive floodplain where erosion is heavy.The Bangladesh Water Development Board has estimated that about 1,200 kilometers of riverbank is actively eroding and more than 500 kilometers face severe problems related toerosion. Since 1973, the Jamuna River has progressively widened, eroding over 70,000 ha of floodplain land while accreting only about 11,000 ha. Expansion is taking place primarily through

destruction of floodplain land and creation of short-lived, low-lying char land. Whereas localpeople may be able to adapt to recurring flooding, they find riverbank erosion and channelinstability difficult to cope with. Social impacts include increased impoverishment andlandlessness, loss of income generation, reduced security, and social displacement.

147. Efforts to control bank erosion and stabilize floodplain lands have only been carried outrelatively recently on the major rivers. Until the 1960s, bank protection works were mainlyrestricted to areas upstream of Hardinge Bridge on the river Ganges and to local town

protection works such as those constructed at Sirajganj. Studies conducted under FAP-1 wereintended to provide a detailed strategy for the containment of the Brahmaputra River and theimproved performance of flood control measures on the right bank floodplain. However, only twostructural intervention options were considered: (i) full canalization of the entire river and (ii)installation of up to 27 “hard-points” (groynes) based on various geomorphic studies. It hasproved difficult to justify the huge cost required for these works. Selected structures have been

41



centuries. Contemporary river management strategies oriented towards forecasting futureerosion hazards, reducing hazard through non-structural measures such as strategic retirementof infrastructure and re-settlement of affected habitation, and on developing low-cost measures

for erosion control. Some pilot-scale programs have been attempted recently along the JamunaRiver and Meghna Estuary near Haimchar. Among these, ADB has initiated the Jamuna-Meghna River Erosion Mitigation Project to pilot test and establish low-cost erosion mitigationmeasures using sand-filled geo-textile bags with combination of non-structural measures.

149. Requirements for river management include strong institutions with capacities for forecasting river behavior and future river evolution. The two institutions best positioned toprovide support to river management activities are EGIS and the Institute of Water Modeling(IWM). However, IWM tends to rely on math models rather then satellite imagery/air photos/field

investigations followed by the use of geomorphic analyses to make final conclusions.Mathematical modeling is most useful for very short-term prediction and design of largestructures, but less appropriate for planning purposes, forecasting large-scale river behavior,threats to towns/infrastructure etc. There is a strong need for strengthening in the area of river interpretation-forecasting river behavior, etc.

2. Rural/ Urban Land and Water Management

a. Rural Areas

150. Despite rapid urbanization, the rural population is still forecast to grow by 5 millionpeople over the coming 25 years. Although significant improvements in agricultural productivityare possible, these productivity increases will not necessarily lead to commensurate increasesin the number of people working in agriculture. In promoting sound rural growth, rationalization(including rehabilitation, improvement, and demolishment) of existing rural FCI(I) infrastructure,which was constructed with huge amount of resources ($3.4 billion since 1972) and yet has notdelivered the intended benefits, remains a major issue.

151. The attached map shows the FCD and FCDI projects of BWDB. According to the mapFCDI has almost covered 60% of cultivable area. So far BWDB has completed about 13,000 kmof embankment, 8,000 km of canal excavation (for irrigation and drainage) and over 13,000hydraulic structures. Table 8 is on the inventory prepared until 1995. Of the area covered byBWDB schemes, just over 20% area is covered by coastal embankment and nearly 15% of theprojects have irrigation component.

Table 8. Existing BWDB FCDI (Completed) Schemes by Size (1995)Types Small(<1000ha)

Medium(1000-5000ha)

Large (5000-15,000ha)

Very large(>15,000ha)

Total up toDec 1995

FCD:No 14 38 24 19 95

Area (ha) 5122 94,631 213,779 942,771 1,256,303FC

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Types Small(<1000ha)

Medium(1000-5000ha)

Large (5000-15,000ha)

Very large(>15,000ha)

Total up toDec 1995

DR:No 16 43 15 8 82

Area (ha) 7,666 107,624 109,096 303,950 528,336SFCD: (sub-mergible)

No 3 9 13 4 29 Area (ha) 1,231 35,686 91,030 133,982 261,929

Source: NWMPP estimates based on data from BWDB and the Water Sector Improvement Programme (WSIP)

studies .

152. If one considers the fact that the substantial parts of North West and South WestRegions are not prone to flooding, one can conclude that most of the country where floodprotection is needed and practicable already has some form of FCD. However, their physicalcondition is not precisely known and conditions vary greatly from one scheme to another.

According to various evaluation studies and consultation with zonal chief engineers, about half of the projects are either non-operative or are functioning much below their full capacity. Manyof these projects have fallen in serious disrepair. Inadequate O&M, lack of beneficiaryparticipation, and inappropriate design in some cases - as for example, inadequate provision for drainage has been central problems. Another reason for such condition of the schemes is thatmany projects were not completed according to their original design. Often the completion of the

schemes took much longer than the originally stipulated time, generally due to the time neededto acquire land for the infrastructure to be constructed. Table 9 presents the regional distributionof FCDI projects until 1995.

Table 9. Regional Distribution of Existing BWDB FCD (completed) SchemesFCD Type NW

RegionNCRegion

NERegion

SWRegion

SCRegion

SERegion

EasternHills Region

FCD/FCDI/FCNo 53 54 32 34 8 11 12

Area (000ha) 1662.6 209.5 232.0 572.5 27.1 379.9 85.9CFCD (coastal)

No - - - 45 56 5 33 Area (000ha) - - - 465.0 442.5 102.6 110.4

SFCD (sub-mergible)

No - 2 28 - - - - Area (000ha) - 5.5 258.4 - - - -

Drainage Only (D/ID)

No 18 7 6 27 8 34 3 Area (000 ha) 30.9 44.9 47.7 414.9 26.7 205.3 42.4

TOTALNo 73 63 66 106 72 50 48

Area (000ha) 1693.5 259.9 538.2 1392.4 496.3 687.8 238.7Source: NWMP estimates

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least two thirds of the sub projects are within existing FCD infrastructure. The complementaryscheme of the type SSWRDSP is needed partly to correct problems from BWDB projects or toimprove/extend the project scope on the basis of felt need of the beneficiaries. Beneficiary

organizations called Water Management Cooperative Associations (WMCA) have beendeveloped to help plan and implement and then to operate and maintain the schemes. EachWMCA is required to contribute 3% of earthwork capital costs, 1.5% of structure costs, and 30%of land costs and to bear the full O&M costs.

154. Public Surface Irrigation Schemes: NWMP has stressed that there is no economic justification to go for public surface water irrigation involving large-scale high-lift pumping suchas the system in the Ganges Kobadak Project, as demonstrated by its high O&M requirement of nearly Tk4,000 that is substantially higher than the shallow tube-wells. However, surface water

irrigation system of the type of the Muhuri and the Chandpur projects where the gravity flow andlow left pumps are used can still be justified because of low cost of irrigation from theseprojects. Similarly irrigation in small-scale project by LGED can be economic because the use of submergible barrier and use of low lift pumps. However, these may still not be suitable for areaswhere there now exists high potential for shallow tubewells, i.e., areas except northeast, coastalsalinity-affected areas, and part of the northwest, southwest, and the Chittagong Hill Tractswhere groundwater levels are low. In areas where shallow tubewells are difficult and expensive,minor irrigation schemes involving submersible dams and use of low lift pumps would be

advisable. However, the resolution of O&M cost recovery problem is essential to consider theprospects for further expanding the public irrigation schemes.

b. Urban Areas

155. An important issue facing Bangladesh is the growth of population relative to arable landand the implications of the accompanying rapid urbanization. 28 The extent to which these twoaspects are managed over the next two decades will have considerable influence on well-being.

156. Urban areas process most of the countries exports, are driving economic growth, andaccounted for more than 42 per cent of Gross Domestic Product in 1998-99. Dhaka accountsfor nearly one-third of the urban population but in the medium term, the growth of Dhaka isforecast to slow as trade with India, Nepal, and Bhutan becomes more important to theeconomy. Urbanization of the Khulna-Northwest Corridor is growing rapidly because it containsmore flood-free land than any other corridor and is the route from Nepal to the port of Mongla.

157. The rapid urbanization in Bangladesh is characterized by: (i) very bad ambient air and

water quality, (ii) high incidence (more than 27 per cent) of the population living in extremepoverty, (iii) substandard housing conditions resulting from high land prices, insecurity of tenure,and lack of loan finance, and (iv) non-availability of piped water in more than 80 per cent of thehouseholds. Projections of urban growth dictate that future investments need to be stronglyoriented to supporting development of the urban areas in a manner supporting economic growthand equality as well as quality of life. Issues requiring specific support include (i) in Dhaka,

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kill d l b (iii) h i i h h i (i ) h i i i i d ( )



unskilled labor; (iii) emphasizing the housing sector; (iv) strengthening institutions; and (v)developing relevant urban infrastructure.29

158. Infrastructure to protect urban communities from flooding needs to be an inherentelement, along with the provision of water supply and sanitation. In addition to creatingconsiderable hardship and dislocation of urban residents, floods have a serious impact on urbaneconomic activity. Most severely affected are often the urban poor who are living onundeveloped property, whose limited access to potable water is further reduced, and whoseemployment suffers. While some urban flood protection has been provided since the major flood events of 1988 and 1998, there is a need to develop and implement a comprehensiveapproach to flood hazard reduction in urban centers. Simultaneously, this would meanaddressing issues including recovering costs and establishing and monitoring the

implementation of appropriate design standards for flood protection and drainage.

3. Disaster Management

159. Water sector related disasters include floods, cyclones, droughts, and erosion. Theinterest of the public, officials, and financiers in these problems and opportunities tends tofluctuate considerably and depends largely on the temporal proximity to a past disaster. Thelevel of interest in turn affects resource allocations in an environment in which there is

considerable competition for scarce resources. This notwithstanding, the Government placesstrong emphasis on stable agricultural production to ensure food security.

160. A significant water related disaster is flooding, the direct effects of which are: loss of life,reduced crop production, and infrastructure damage. Prior to the 1950s, apart from railway androad embankments, there was little large-scale infrastructure to modify the flood regime.However, an outcome of the Krug mission and subsequent IECO Master Plan was theconstruction of more than 7,000 km of embankments – many along major rivers. Thischannelization has had the effect of substantially increasing in-stream water levels, hindering

drainage, and promoting in-channel sediment deposition as well as destabilizing the channel. As the “protected” areas become densely inhabited, ever more people are vulnerable to floodevents that cannot be contained by the infrastructure.

161. During the past two decades, Bangladesh has made considerable progress in preparingfor and managing the response to disastrous events and the 1998 flood demonstrated theeffectiveness of the combined Government and NGO actions. Nevertheless, the October 2000flood indicated additional resources should be warranted to improve forecasting, improvecommunication, and in general to improve preparation through increased annual budgets. ADBhas supported Bangladesh in dealing with disastrous events through seven loans as well asthrough the reallocation of loan savings. Post-evaluation findings were that the supportprovided achieved the stated objectives and was generally very successful. There were noqualifiers to support of this type, nor outstanding issues that needed redress.

45

h b ti t d th t th l ti f 25 illi t 36 illi d t i h lth



has been estimated that the population of 25 million to 36 million are exposed to arsenic healthrisk of causing skin, liver, and renal deficiencies including cancer. While the number of identifiedarsenicosis patients has remained about 13,000 in mid 2002, there are a large number of

unidentified patients. This number is also anticipated to grow rapidly to a level of a few million inthe next decades without effective mitigation measures, given the relatively short period of timeelapsed since those contaminated groundwater wells were installed and started to be used bythe population so far without any regulatory framework in place.

163. The country’s aquifer systems are divided into upper, middle, and deep aquifers. Arsenicis mostly found in wells taking water from the upper and middle aquifers. It is of natural origin,and believed to be released to groundwater under reducing conditions in aquifers fromsedimentary materials containing the arsenic in potentially soluble forms that were transported

from the Himalayas and other high-lying source areas in the ancient times.30

164. Since the late 1990s, many initiatives were launched by the Government, internationaland national NGOs, research institutions, and external funding agencies. Efforts have beenfocused on nationwide testing of wells and groundwater survey, emergency relief to heavilyaffected areas and identified patients, and pilot testing of mitigation options. Key initiativesinclude (i) groundwater studies (assisted by DFID with nationwide coverage and by JICA inthree districts in the Southwest); (ii) Bangladesh Arsenic Mitigation and Water Supply Project for

national blanket screening of wells, emergency mitigation, pilot testing of remedial measures,health care, and awareness campaign (assisted by World Bank); (iii) Community-based ArsenicMitigation Project that includes similar activities and has advanced to 45 upazilas (assisted byUNICEF); (iv) Arsenic Mitigation Pilot Project undertaken in 11 upazilas in coastal area (assistedby DANIDA); and (v) studies regarding the impacts of arsenic on the food chain (assisted byFAO and by AUSAID), among many others. These have resulted in good progress in testing of wells, identification of highly affected communities, and identification of alternative water supplyoptions. However, progress in providing cost-effective and sustainable mitigating options as wellas necessary health services have remained slow, due to the absence of policy, strategy andshort, medium, and long term mitigation plans and a number of remaining technical, social,financial, and institutional constraints and knowledge gaps.

165. In January 2002, an international expert workshop was organized with the assistance of WHO, which successfully pinned down the key issues and recommendations towards effectivearsenic mitigation. Specific issues to this end include (i) effective screening and continuousmonitoring of wells; (ii) groundwater management to ensure sustainable use of arsenic-freeaquifers; (iii) provision of appropriate short- to long-term mitigation options suitable to physical,

social and economic conditions of the concerned areas; (iv) social and financial feasibility of mitigation options and affordability by the beneficiaries; (v) effective and proper referral chain for clinical case management; (vi) health worker capacity and awareness for case management;(vii) effective institutional arrangements and capacity development involving central and localgovernments, NGOs, and private sector; and (viii) fulfilling remaining knowledge gaps includingthe impacts on food chain

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(APSU) has also been created in the Local Government Division and placed under the



(APSU) has also been created in the Local Government Division and placed under theSecretaries Committee with DFID support to coordinate between the concerned ministries, andbetween the Government and the donors.31 Under this improved institutional setup, the

Government is now preparing a National Policy for Arsenic Mitigation (NPAM) andImplementation Plan for Arsenic Mitigation (IPAM) for its finalization in the near future. It isexpected that these policy and strategy documents will provide guidance in undertaking arsenicmitigation activities.

167. Key issues in addressing the arsenic problems include:

(i) Variations of arsenic concentration with time at a given well, once assumed to benegligible, are emerging as an area of concern. Effective national testing and

monitoring is essential.(ii) Social feasibility of mitigation methodologies is key; educating and motivating village

water users to undertake arsenic mitigation is neither quick nor easy

(iii) A range of mitigation options will be needed to cover differing local conditions, andmethodologies need to be developed to enable field workers to assess localconditions and determine which options are applicable (Ravenscroft 2001).

(iv) Induced arsenic contamination of the deep aquifer by improperly drilled wells is aconcern.

(v) Arsenic mitigation needs to be fully integrated into rural water supply developmentprograms; it is not a “band aid” to be applied separately.

(vi) Health studies should be undertaken to look for environmental co-factors in theBangladesh context that either protect from or enhance the toxic effects of arsenic,as it has been observed that not all exposed persons develop symptoms.

5. Environmental Management

168. There are two aspects to environmental management of water resources development:firstly, defining the environmental issues, and secondly developing the means to address thoseissues effectively.

169. Over the last decade, a great deal has been achieved in understanding what are the keysector environmental issues. General water environment sector issues include: socio-economicand productive impacts associated with land acquisition; bounding of schemes; interaction withother development projects and trends; cumulative impacts; and environment-on-projectimpacts due to river erosion or climate change.32 With respect to rural flood control, drainage,and irrigation key water environment issues include: protection of remaining biodiversity;managing conflicts between agriculture and fisheries; and the distributive socio-economicimpacts of altering access to common property resources. With respect to urban and periurbanflood control and drainage, key issues include: rapidly changing land use; encroachment on

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170 Addressing environmental issues effectively involves developing technical means and



170. Addressing environmental issues effectively involves developing technical means andinstitutional capacity. Technical means refer to feasible approaches that achieve environmentalobjectives. Institutional capacity includes policies and laws,33 implementing and enforcement

agencies, and stakeholder participation.

171. Much progress has been made in developing solutions to the project-on-environmentimpacts. For example, it has become increasingly clear that under certain hydrologic conditions,improved drainage benefits agriculture and is much more benign in terms of its impacts on other sectors than are flood control embankments. On the other hand, the environment-on-projectimpacts are much more difficult and costly to quantify and address. In some instances, such asin the case of an eroding river, this would lead to a strategy of avoidance. In both types of impacts, it needs to be recognized that innovation and experimentation are essential to develop

better alternatives.

172. Bangladesh has put in place an apex national agency, the Department of Environment(DOE) under the Ministry of Environment and Forests. DOE is assigned with significantresponsibilities related to monitoring, standards, issuing clearances, and so on, but is seriouslyunder-resourced with respect to these responsibilities. As a result, there is little enforcement of existing laws and policies. A number of institutional strengthening initiatives are underway. 34

173. Beneath DOE, the intention was to create environmental cells down through theadministrative hierarchy within the line agencies, local government etc. The latter has yet to beimplemented, so the existing agency framework for environmental management consists of theDOE and its several District level field offices. In practice, much environmental managementdoes occur but it is donor driven, with each donor applying its own environmental guidelines(plus those of the GOB) to its own projects. Further work is required to tailor the environmentalguidelines since the same process is required for large and small-scale investments eventhough the scale of potential impacts varies substantially.

174. Bangladesh needs to address the following fundamental weaknesses if environmentalmanagement is to be improved: (i) the lack of a holistic approach to environmental issues, (ii)the absence of mechanisms to support bottom-up (participatory) environmental initiatives, (iii)insufficient environmental appreciation within institutions and a corresponding lack of commitment to develop resources, and (iv) poor inter-agency coordination and cooperation(NWMPP Study Team 2000a).

6. Fisheries

175. The contribution of fisheries to gross domestic product is reportedly about three per centand represents about seven per cent of total protein intake in Bangladesh. Total fish productionhas reportedly increased on average by more than four per cent per year in the past decadewith much of the increase attributable to a rapid expansion of inland fish aquaculture, whichgrew on average almost 10 per cent annually.35

48

works as well as silting of beels and channels This has resulted in fish catch as well as



works as well as silting of beels and channels. This has resulted in fish catch as well asbiodiversity declining. A characteristic of this fishery, as a common property resource, is that of progressive equity distribution (benefits go overwhelmingly to the poorest). This characteristic

has been nullified by the fishery leasing/land revenue system. Government policy targets thehard-core poor and this resource should be explicitly incorporated as an element in a strategy toreach this target group.

177. Culture fisheries are forecast to continue as the main source of growth in fish productionin the future and can mitigate the negative impacts associated with changes in habitat wroughtby flood control and drainage infrastructure. However, a characteristic of the culture fishery isthat this enterprise requires resources, both land (containing a pond) and capital. Thus, withoutthe infusion of external resources including training, this business is not accessible to those

without assets. Through training and appropriate institutional structures, it is possible to promoteagreements between fishers and land-owners to their mutual benefit. Particularly where theculture fishery environment is enhanced through construction of flood control infrastructure,resources need to be allocated to promote equitable distribution.36

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V. DIRECTIONS FOR THE FUTURE



V. DIRECTIONS FOR THE FUTURE

A. Priority Agendas

178. This section highlights the priority agendas by the Government to move towards thesector goals envisaged under the NWP and ongoing and prospective interventions by theexternal assistance agencies to assist the Government in addressing those agendas.

1. Water Policies, Plans, and Legal Framework

179. NWP. Bangladesh has put in place a sound water policy and other related policies,which provide the framework for formulating the NWMP. The key related policies and their dates

of formulation are: National Environment Policy (1992), National Forestry Policy (1994), NationalEnergy Policy (1996), National Policy for Safe Water Supply and Sanitation (1998), NationalFisheries Policy (1998), National Agricultural Policy (1999), Industrial Policy (1999), Land UsePolicy (2001). Many of these policies would now require updating and extension. NWP has tobe revised to formulate measures for cost recovery partially from beneficiaries of floodprotection. Another major need for the future is to formulate policies for fiscal decentralization toprovide for resources at the disposal of local bodies to take more responsibilities for localdevelopment, including water resource management and development.

180. NWMP. The most important step for the Government now is to initiate actions on thedraft NWMP. The draft NWMP was prepared to translate the government NWP into anoperational strategy and to provide guidance to future investment for water resourcemanagement. The Executive Committee of NWRC already endorsed the plan. This will alsoprovide a framework for donor coordination in water resource management.

181. While approving the NWMP, provision has to be made to extend and update the plan.Extension and updating of the NWMP will have to be done particularly in the following areas:

(i) Elaborating the regional plans to include what needs to be done at the regional levelto meet water and drainage needs;

(ii) Providing a framework to link NWMP with local level water resource planning (at thezila and upazila levels); and

(iii) Providing priority and strategic directions for future investment in water resourcemanagement.

182. An appropriate extension and updating of the present plan and periodic revision of theplan would be possible only if steps are taken urgently to strengthen WARPO. Besides water management plans, work has to continue in other water related issues. The NWP also needs tobe revised from time to time, especially to develop an effective system of cost recovery for evennon-irrigation projects of water resource management. Here the policy revision in the water

t ill h t l l li k ith li d d l t f th G t i l

50

legislation process is in progress, administrative machinery and procedures for administering



g p p g , y p gthe law should be designed. Existing institutions, such as MOWR, WARPO, BWDB, LocalGovernment Councils, and local civil administration, should be reviewed to evolve a system for

administering the water act.

184. Assistance by External Funding Agencies. The process of preparing the NWP, thedraft NWMP, and the draft national water act per se was assisted by the loan provided by theWorld Bank37 and was mostly undertaken from 1997-2001. It was pursued based on theexperience of the past and ongoing sector operations38 and in consultation with localstakeholders and international and domestic experts, and external funding agencies. While thedraft NWMP is awaiting the approval by the NWRC and the preparation of the draft nationalwater act is half way through, the World Bank has shown its willingness to provide follow-on

support to strengthen the NWMP and further prepare the draft national water act, under theproposed Water Management Improvement Project (WMIP), with co-financing by theGovernment of the Netherlands. Consolidating the outputs, experience and the lessons of various sector interventions including those assisted by ADB is essential in further pursuing theprocess. A local consultative group of external funding agencies on water has been establishedto facilitate coordination among donors in promoting sector reforms and proceeding with varioussector operations.

2. Reform and Restructuring of Key Institutions

185. WARPO. WARPO is to perform a critical role for the water resource managementsector, especially in providing support to macro level water planning and for the national water resource database. Different options for improving capability of WARPO can be considered toprovide appropriate employment packages, including establishing WARPO as Governmentowned trust under a Board of Governors. A permanent, suitably built high tech office will have tobe provided to WARPO, potentially sharing this facility with other GOB trusts such as (IWM,CEGIS) and the Joint River Commission. In addition, specific measures will have to be taken to

strengthen the planning and monitoring capabilities.

186. Since WARPO’s current mandate is to provide advice and support to the ECNWRC andalso to the Planning Commission, WARPO does not have any executive powers. Instead, it isexpected to become center of excellence as a specialized service provider, providing adviceand guidance on all water related matters, including the preparation of a management plan. Ateam of experts may be engaged to help build the analytical and plan overseeing capacity of WARPO in the beginning phase. WARPO also has to strengthen its role in overseeing and

coordinating the maintenance and updating of national water resource date (NWRD) base. It isenvisaged that WARPO in this connection will work with other data agencies and addressissues such as: data format compatibility, establishment of consolidated observation networkand rational storage and retrieval system. Operational linkages will have to be encouraged withthe IWM for resource modeling, with CEGIS for data base maintenance and broader environmental impact monitoring of water sector development activities and with Bangladesh

51

187. In promoting above reforms, the Government needs to define appropriate institutional



responsibility and arrangements to establish/ strengthen various water management functionsenvisaged under the draft water act including administration of water license and water rights,and WARPO’s roles and responsibilities may have to be further revised in this context.39

188. BWDB. As noted, BWDB reform has started, but has a long way to go. Further reformswill have to be carried out in phases and will be guided by the long-term vision about BWDB.The long term vision is that BWDB will be decentralized into regional bodies along eighthydrological zones40 and its central organization will be much smaller in size but will have staff with highly specialized engineering, economic and environmental skills. The exact form of thenew organization cannot be specified at this stage as the thinking is evolving under the Twining

Arrangement. Various options, however, could be considered including that of a national water

commission as a National River and Flood Management Administration to only manage thenational rivers and the river basins.

189. While the exact shape of BWDB in the long run has to emerge through intensiveconsultation within BWDB (which has already started under Twining Arrangement with theGovernment of the Netherlands) and discussions outside BWDB with other concernedagencies, certain goals should be kept in view in shaping the future of BWDB. These goals are:decentralization, stakeholder ownership/participation and multi-sectoral coordination.

190. An important unfinished task in reforming the mandate and role of BWDB in the short-run to start the process of transferring small -scale FCDI projects to beneficiaries, as providedunder NWP. Other remaining issues include (i) strengthening multi-disciplinary capacity topromote participatory management of water resource schemes towards management transfer of small and medium (up to 5,000ha) schemes to local water management associations (WMAs)and towards joint management for large schemes; (ii) strengthening stringent internal qualitycontrol systems for WMA institutional development, procurement, and physical constructionprocesses with effective management information system; (iii) substantially strengthening local

resource mobilization for sustainable O&M of public irrigation schemes in particular and floodcontrol and drainage (FCD) schemes as well; (iv) improving investment as well as O&Mbudgetary management through performance-based, transparent and accountable budgetaryallocation mechanism; and (v) transforming its regional entities into autonomous boards with asimilar participatory setup.

191. Among these issues, promoting participatory management of public water resourceschemes while strengthening the local O&M financing and rationalizing central budgetary

support remain the critical issue. In public irrigation schemes, while farmers generally developownership and undertake self-sustained O&M of field channels, local resource mobilization for O&M of larger canals and pump stations generally remain very poor. While BWDB is preparingthe Rules on Service Charge to authorize the project entities to collect, retain, and utilize theservice charges for their own O&M, efforts need to be made to substantially strengthen WMAmembership prepare accurate land record operate effective irrigation monitoring system and

52

change field staff attitudes to be responsive to the beneficiary farmers’ needs. Regarding the



FCD schemes, the task is more difficult due to the public good nature of the benefits, as well asthe difficulty of identifying the benefit areas and their level of benefits. Development of strongWMAs to be able to manage the concerned facilities delegated to them is essential.41 Along withthese, the budgetary allocation from BWDB should also be rationalized and provided on thebasis of scheme performance monitored in such indicators as farmer enrollment in WMAs andlevel of beneficiary contribution, with stringent budgetary management mechanisms to disallowany leakage to poorly performing schemes at the field level.

192. LGIs. Development of a democratic local government system that will design andexecute local development projects and provide responsive services is a key step for the future.It is hoped that the present government will vigorously pursue the initiative it has already taken

in re-establishing democratically elected local government in different tiers. Once the differenttires are established, the Government will hopefully delegate increasing responsibilities to thelocal government bodies. The local government commission (LGC) report of 1997 makes usefuland relevant recommendations to the government on how to increase accountability, resources,and authority and implementation capacity of local governments.

193. It is hoped that the government will follow the recommendations of 1997 report in takingsteps to strengthen the local government bodies after they are democratically elected and startfunctioning. Decentralization must be combined with accountability and adherence to rules. Andthere will be a need for sufficient resources at the local level to enable the local governments todeliver services. In this connection, 1997 LGC Report made a sound recommendation that aLocal Government Finance Committee or Commission should be set up to devise ways tostrengthen fiscal base of local government bodies. The commission could begin by designinginter-government transfers to improve competition for supply of public goods and services, whileincreasing accountability and regional equality – all without undermining fiscal discipline. Inaddition to these general steps to be taken to establish and strengthen LGIs, some specialsteps will have to be taken to meet the management and training needs of LGI personnel to

take over water resource management responsibilities.

194. LGED. As the local government system is reestablished and starts functioning, LGED’srole will eventually have to change. When all the different tires of the local government comeinto effect, the local development activities will be determined by the local councils and notthrough central mechanism of LGED as it happens now. LGED’s role will be to assist the localgovernment councils in all development projects. This could come as a natural progression fromthe present system of participatory management. Local LGED operators should becomeanswerable to Local Government Council. It would be ideal that ultimately the LGED technicalstaffs are transferred to the payroll of the LG councils and funded through a mix of local taxationand central subventions. Also LGED’s capacity to ensure quality control for WMA institutionaldevelopment, physical construction, and WMA’s self-sustained O&M processes also needsstrengthening. Furthermore LGED’s functions could be further expanded and strengthened inline with the progress of the Government’s decentralization policy and programs with necessary

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195 B fi i O i ti I th f t b th BWDB d LGED ld b f d i



195. Beneficiary Organizations. In the future, both BWDB and LGED would be reformed inmanner that ensures an overall consistency in approach of involving beneficiaries under theframework provided by GPWM. When such consistency and unity of approach is achieved andthe roles of these organizations are defined, a time may come when BWDB and supportingfunctions of LGED for water resource management can merge into one.

196. Fostering establishment and proper development of community level organizations tomanage local water resources should be another key element of Government reform program.This is closely linked with the redefinition of BWDB’s role and, as noted, the Government policyis to transfer management of small and local water resources to local communities. So there willbe a need to support the establishment and development of satisfactory local community based

organizations to manage small-scale water resource schemes. Luckily, the environment isfavorable to achieve this. First, GPWM now exists and the guidelines provide the framework andprocedures on how these communities based organizations would work. Second, now therehave been some experiences with water user associations under FAP20 and CAD projectexecuted by BWDB and with Water Management Cooperative Associations (WMCAs) under the

ADB funded small-scale water resource management project (SSWRDSP) executed by LGED,the models can be replicated to other projects. Also, in some projects of BWDB, jointmanagement committees have been adopted. Future community based organization of stakeholders, either at the primary use level or at the federation level, can be built on theexperience gained so far with beneficiary groups (see the Box 2).

Box 2. Lessons on Community Organization from an ADB ProjectImportant lessons can be learned about the approach to be pursued in stakeholder participation fromone recently completed project. The project is: Small Scale Water Resource Development Sector Project. The project financed by ADB was designed to address the longstanding issues in Bangladeshwater sector through an approach that put in place beneficiary participation in management andbeneficiary ownership of completed infrastructure. The lessons show that the process of establishingvibrant and sustainable groups required a combination of time and skilled guidance. In total 280WMCAs were formed, out of those about 124 were not performing well. An important factor in poor performance is faulty construction of the infrastructure for which the WMCA was formed. According toan evaluation report, the institutions developed for beneficiary participation – water managementassociation, water management group and water management federation – and the informalarrangements for union level participation permitted their constructive engagement in water resourcemanagement. The preliminary assessment of the project shows that by and large the sub-projectsgenerated moderate to considerable agricultural benefits. The assessment, however, stresses thatinstitution building requires time. All WMCAs, according to this assessment, have not yet developedthe necessary corporate commitment, dedication and ownership required to ensure sustainable

operation and maintenance.

197. Assistance by External Funding Agencies. Major reforms in the institutional structureof WARPO and BWDB that led to the enactment of the 2000 BWDB Act have been defined andproceeded with strong leadership by the then-Secretary MOWR, with facilitating support

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198. In recent years, a major contribution for further promoting the reforms in WARPO andBWDB is being provided by the Government of the Netherlands through its Twining Missions



BWDB is being provided by the Government of the Netherlands through its Twining Missions,which are aimed at assisting for water sector institutional reforms through a twining arrangementbetween the Netherlands Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management and theMOWR in Bangladesh. A task force comprising BWDB senior and mid-level staff has beenestablished with formation of 5 working groups to prepare, with the assistance of the twiningmissions, action plans for each of the focal areas for change, including (i) implementing theBWDB Act 2000; (ii) developing a strategic five-year plan for 2002-07; (iii) reformingprocurement, accounting and financial management; (iv) human resource development; and (v)services and revenues. These action plans will be implemented up to 2006/07.

199. These action plans essentially provide a very good framework for further improving

BWDB’s institutional performance. Accordingly, it is essential that assistance by any externalfunding agencies be provided in conformity with the specified actions while enhancing their effective implementation. The proposed WMIP is to provide comprehensive capacitydevelopment support for BWDB and WARPO from this perspective. Its specific components for BWDB institutional improvement include (i) consolidation of reform initiatives alreadyundertaken (such as finalizing the vision statement and improvement in Governing Councilarrangements); (ii) staff training and development (with comprehensive review of BWDBcapacity development plan); (iii) improvement in BWDB’s skill mix; (iv) modernization of BWDBoperation through computerization; (v) improved procurement and financial management; and(vi) divestiture of the Dredging Organization and Mechanical Equipment Organization of BWDB.Components for WARPO include (i) organizational development including WARPOrestructuring, revision of WARPO Act, and human resources development; (ii) updating of national water database; and (iii) support for updating NWMP and integrated water resourcesmanagement framework. ADB-assisted JMREMP (approved in 2002) also provide institutionalsupport for improving BWDB’s human resource management and O&M financial resourcemanagement relevant to river erosion mitigation and large-scale FCDI scheme management, inconsistency with the action plans developed with the Twining Missions.

200. Regarding other rural water sector institutions such as LGED, LGIs, and WMAs, theSSWRDSP-2 (assisted by ADB with co-finance by the Netherlands) is providing major assistance for restructuring and strengthening LGED’s water resources development functions;defining the LGIs’ roles for small-scale water sector interventions, and establishing andstrengthening WMAs as institutions that can take the full responsibility of sustained schemeO&M. WMIP, once launched, is also expected to provide support for these organizations.

3. Strategic Thrusts for Investments

201. Major investment thrusts coming out of the draft NWMP and building on the experienceof past interventions include the following.

202 Integrated Water Resource Planning and Investments. Following the NWP and the

55

as equity among different water user groups). There are also vast opportunities to enhanceinvestment benefits through cross sectoral integration To initiate an integrated approach to



investment benefits through cross-sectoral integration. To initiate an integrated approach towater resource management and services in Southwest area, the Government, with supportfrom ADB, is currently preparing a project, whose outcome will guide the possible replicationinother areas. The Netherlands-assisted project for Integrated Planning for sustainable water management (IPSWAM) is also undertaking an integrated planning approach focusing onseveral large-scale FCD schemes in the Southwest.

203. Multi-sectoral Programs for the Poor and Vulnerable. There are two specific areaswhere integrated planning approach could be most effective from the perspective of directpoverty reduction: (i) the coastal areas (affected by cyclones and storm surges) including char land (affected by insecurity of land holdings in addition to exposure to natural calamities); and

(ii) the haor (low lying) areas (affected by floods) and internal char land (affected by landinsecurity in addition to floods).

(i) Integrated Coastal Zone Management and Development. The new comprehensiveapproach would look at complex coastal zone issues such as: hydrology, erosionand accretion, sea level rise, mangroves and other important ecosystems,agriculture, fisheries, shrimp culture, salt production, other economic activities, localnavigation and water pollution. A start of this program has already been made bytheGovernment by adopting an Integrated Coastal Zone Management strategy. As

noted, BWDB had already built 9,000 km of embankment in the coastal areas, wherethe new multi-sector and integrated approach would now be adopted. In many of thecoastal areas, drainage congestion has also become a problem, associated with theconstruction of embankments and resulting restriction of tidal flows. On the basis of the said strategy paper by the Government, the Integrated Coastal ZoneManagement Project study has been initiated with the assistance of the Governmentof the Netherlands and the Department for International Development (DFID) of UK,with the objectives of preparing a coastal zone development policy and strategy, andidentifying priority interventions and the enabling environment as well as localcommunity capacities. On the basis of the past assistance in the coastal areas, theWorld Bank is also considering providing follow-on investments to implement thestrategy and priority programs.

(ii) Integrated Flood Management in Haor and Inland Charland. Like shelter program incoastal areas, NWMP has rightly stressed the need for programs for inland floodproofing. NWFP records42 that flood proofing interventions, involving mainly theraising of house plinths and the provision of communal flood shelter, is highly cost-effective and socially beneficial, because the poor benefit most from these projects.Several donors have been effective in this area. USAID funded a flood proofingproject, which at a cost $ 27 million over five years has provided flood proofing for 1,025 villages in 20 upazilas. DFID is also initiating a project to improve the livelihoodof vulnerable people living in the Jamuna charland. JICA has also undertaken astudy to construct flood shelters to the most vulnerable people that may eventually

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204. Small-scale Interventions. As noted, there are good opportunities to enhance ruralincomes by improving local water management with small-scale interventions in Bangladesh



incomes by improving local water management with small scale interventions in Bangladesh.Such interventions are advantageous with their tendency for smaller conflicts of interestsassociated with the smaller number of stakeholders, and quick yielding nature of investments.Key opportunities include (i) providing opportunities for supplementary irrigation and culturefishery for the poor through water retention; (ii) resolving localized water management problemswithin the larger schemes and outside; and (iii) promoting agriculture and fishery developmentthrough flood protection in shallow flooded areas having minimum social and environmentalimpacts. The ADB-assisted SSWRDSP-1 and its successor SSWRDSP-2 are providing supportto these ends, while paying due attention to help reduction of poverty and to create gender balance. Through promoting micro credit programs of Water Management Cooperation

Association (WMCAs) and the provision of landless contracting societies LCS, which provided

direct employment to the poor and landless. Based on the lessons of SSWRDSP-1, SSWRDSP-2 (which covers the whole country) will continue to allow WMCAs to deal with micro credit anduse landless contracting societies (LCS) for construction and maintenance of sub projects.

Although the preliminary report raises the question whether WMCA’s involvement in micro creditwould dilute their O&M role, the gains outweigh the possible risk that WMCAs will deviate fromits core activities in a number of subprojects.

205. River Management. Bangladesh being a lower riparian country, cannot expect to takeup basin-wide management for major rivers. However, attention can be given to river management, which will aim at managing particular river system within the country to bringmultipurpose benefits. Studies will therefore, have to be undertaken to establish cost-effectiveapproach to long-term development of the river systems for multipurpose use. This will involvesteps such as: preparation of the physical inventory of the whole river (existing infrastructureand the development along it), an assessment of present condition of the river, existing andfuture trends, consultation with stakeholders, appreciation of main hydraulic environmental andother water related problems and preparation of a management plan for the river. BesidesBWDB, Local Government, local community, river management will have to also involve

agencies like BIWTA and DOE. It would be resource intensive. The responsibilities for suchriver management work will have to be distributed as follows: WARPO having macro planning,BWDB retaining responsibility for main and regional rivers, local government (with technicalsupport from LGED) taking responsibility for regional water management plans and water resource management within their areas and local communities assuming responsibility for fieldlevel system and local channels.

206. The draft NWMP accorded due priority in undertaking studies for long-term developmentin main and regional rivers with a focus on the water-stressed Ganges dependent areas,followed by major investments for water abstraction including the construction of barrages andregional water distribution networks. However, such study needs to be undertaken with dueattention to the possible environmental and social impacts on the affected areas includingtransboundary implications. Given the high amount of necessary funding, its priority againstother economic development agenda would also be an issue Significant efforts for awareness

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high priority under the draft NWMP. While assistance for the pilot dredging and preparatorystudies for investment project has been provided by the Netherlands Government and the World



studies for investment project has been provided by the Netherlands Government and the WorldBank respectively, the process towards initiating the ensuing investment project is yet to bestarted.

208. Riverbank Erosion Mitigation. Riverbank erosion is a perennial problem caused bydynamic nature of the rivers in Bangladesh. The erosion affects annually about 100,000 peopleliving on the riverbanks who will face significant social hardship such as loss of homestead andagricultural land. The draft NWMP calls for preparation of a master plan for river training on thebasis of past and ongoing experience, and provision of bank stabilization works in combinationto non-structural measures. In the past, erosion protection measures were taken at fewlocations of strategic importance. Such approaches were highly expensive and cannot be

replicated except for protecting extremely valuable structures or places, such as the river training work for the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge and to a less extent the town protection workssuch as Sirajgonj (assisted by the World Bank), Chandpur and Rajshahi (protected by theGovernment funds). Hard structures constructed to directly control riverbank erosion tend tohave had other negative effects such as causing stronger attack that may eventually lead to thecollapse of the control structure and causing stronger erosion downstream, besides high cost.Recently a project, Jamuna-Meghna River Erosion Mitigation Project, with finance from ADB,was launched. This project will test some cost effective (e.g. use of sand-filled geo-textile bags)and adaptive (i.e., trying to stabilize the river courses along the naturally developing alignments)approach to mitigate the riverbank erosion. While its successful implementation may expand thescope of stabilizing the river courses in relatively less strategic locations compared with theconventional approaches, they would still have to be combined with non-structural measuressuch as zoning of areas with high risks of floods and river erosion, and erosion forecasting andwarning to vulnerable locations.

209. Rationalization of Existing BWDB Portfolio and Further FCD(I) Program. There isalso high investment priority accorded in the draft NWMP to support a program to sustain the

worthwhile water management infrastructures already built and make them operate moreefficiently for wider economic benefit to the community. Since a huge amount of resources ($3.4billion) has already been spent on the infrastructures, there is high pay off to any investment torehabilitation any of the schemes, which the beneficiaries highly value. The impact on povertyalleviation will be potentially substantial, because the rehabilitated infrastructures will contributeto agricultural growth and rural development, particularly when due attention is provided toidentify and meet the diverse interests of the poor people in relation to local water managementproblems. The rehabilitation, however, will have to be done after a careful assessment of theexisting infrastructure and determination as to which structures are to be rehabilitated urgently,which are to be done in the medium-term and which ones are to be remodeled or in the extremecase which ones are to be abandoned or retained. Since resources are limited, a rationalizationprogram of the existing infrastructure would be most desirable.

210 The first step toward rationalization program is to prepare an inventory of all schemes

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211. As to the schemes that are found unviable, BWDB will have to consider disengagement(i.e. abandonment) of some non-performing schemes. Before retirement, active measures may



( ) p g , yhave to be taken for removing structures that cause drainage congestion and also raisingawareness of farmers of possible changes in flood regime. For the other projects with clear benefit, rehabilitation (with or without remodeling) of them would be desirable to bring them intofull operation to practice integrated water resource management.

212. Scheme viability will have to be justified on social, economic and environment andaffordability grounds. Another test is the willingness of beneficiaries to take over project O&M upto 5,000 ha. For larger schemes similar test can be made by taking the views of thebeneficiaries. Generally for all schemes to be continued with BWDB, pre-requirements of rehabilitation are environmental audit; participatory planning of beneficiaries in rehabilitation

works, a commitment of the government to finance its share of the O&M cost; andestablishment of a satisfactory mechanism for scheme management on a participatory basis,with transparent accountability. Thus, even the old projects now selected for rehabilitation willneed to follow guidelines for Participatory Management and involve beneficiaries in planningrehabilitating or remodeling the scheme. Similarly a joint management structure should be inplace before civil work starts.

213. The NWMP estimates that the value of total capital investment for FCD(I) infrastructureis about Tk.75 billion43 and even after retirement of some, the remaining infrastructure for rehabilitation would be large and therefore phasing in the investment would be required 44. Thefirst phase should insist of the most urgently needed work. The phasing of the work will also bedetermined by a realistic projection of what resources will be available for O&M. It is importantto stress that there is little justification on embarking on rehabilitation program if there is noguarantee to finance O&M at sustainable levels.

214. Regarding the external funding agencies engaged in this investment agenda, it is hopedthat Water Management Improvement Project (WMIP), which BWDB is preparing for financing

from the World Bank and Government of Netherlands, will address the rationalization and/or management transfer of small (up to 1,000 ha) and medium (up to 5,000 ha) schemes, whilesome of the existing BWDB schemes have already been covered under the ADB-assistedSSWRDSP executed by LGED. Rationalization of larger schemes are also envisaged under theNetherlands-assisted Integrated Planning for Sustainable Water Management (IPSWAM) andthe Southwest Integrated Water Resources Management Project for which project preparatorytechnical assistance is being initiated by ADB.

215. A subset of this investment thrust envisaged under the draft NWMP also includes theexpansion of public irrigation schemes in areas where groundwater irrigation is not feasible,such as southeast, south central, and southwest regions. However, this needs to be promotedwith demonstrated progress of O&M performance improvement in the existing FCDI schemes,which are promoted under ADB-assisted Command Area Development Project and beingfollowed up by the Jamuna-Meghna River Erosion Mitigation Project

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bacteriologically safe drinking water mostly supplied by groundwater through tubewells about90% of which were provided without any public funding, the greatest challenges are to address



the arsenic problem that is affecting some 30% of the country’s tubewells and expansion of sanitation facilities. Regarding the former, a number of potentially cost-effective alternativewater supply options have already been identified and tested. For example, a household-basedrainwater harvesting system pilot tested in UNICEF’s program has demonstrated that it cansupply water throughout the dry season and can be established with a comparable cost with theconventional shallow tube wells. Some NGOs have also successfully undertaken community-based mitigation options such as dug-wells without any external funding. These indicate thatvast opportunities may exist to address arsenic problems by mobilizing private sector. However,the greatest challenge appears to be the lack of awareness and incentive to adopt availableoptions among the households, caused by the limited visibility of actual health risk, as is

evidenced by the small number of severe arsenicosis patients that still remain at only about15,000 nationwide45 and many others suffering from diarrhea. The strategic implication of thesedevelopments is that the role of the public sector needs to be directed towards raisingawareness and motivation, regular monitoring and management of groundwater use and quality,and creation of an enabling environment for private sector participation in mitigation, withnecessary support to ensure access for socially vulnerable groups of people, in particular inrural areas. Similar approach is needed for the substantial expansion of rural sanitation facilities.

217. In urban centers steps will be needed urgently to improve the O&M of existing water supply and sanitation systems. The improvements in physical facilities will have to becomplemented with institutional development, focused on improving operational efficiencies,reducing wastage, strengthening cost recovery and financial management and institutionalizingthe community participation approach to water supply facilities to ensure the long-termsustainability of the benefits46. Priority should be given to expand the municipal piped water supply systems in areas affected by groundwater arsenic contamination.

218. Major efforts will also be needed to develop bulk water supplies to meet the growing

need in urban centers. Groundwater is already over exploited in Dhaka and surface water system will be needed there. Main water supply systems (distribution systems supplied bysources like DTW and/or surface water development) will be suitable for big cities or largemunicipalities. Local area systems (force-mode hand pumps and small piped system) would suitsmall towns or peri-urban areas.

219. Integrated Urban Flood Protection and Land and Environmental Management. Thiswill be for the efficient management of cities, which will become increasingly important source of growth in the future. Accordingly, high priority is accorded with this investment thrust under thedraft NWMP. Here a sustained program to implement changes in the institutional and financialframework will be necessary, while addressing the relevant issues in an integrated manner including flood control and drainage, land use planning with effective levying mechanisms (onbenefits accrued through public investments), environmental management including urbansewerage and water quality and quantity management The program will have to be based on

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encourage operational efficiency and improve service delivery while ensuring soundenvironmental management.



B. Recommendations for Future Operational Strategy of ADB

220. Over the last 5 years, Bangladesh has put in place a sound NWP, prepared a draft 25-year NWMP, and initiated organizational reforms of the key sector institutions. The country hasthus entered into a phase of furthering and consolidating the reform efforts to effectivelyinstitutionalize the key NWP principles and guidelines in the agency operations. Theimplementation of the draft NWMP also needs to be initiated with continuous strengthening for strategic sector development.

221. Under the circumstance, ADB’s sector strategy for the next 5 years is to support theGovernment’s efforts to this direction. Specifically, ADB will support further promoting effectivepolicies and institutional framework, and management systems and capacities of the central andlocal government, and stakeholder organizations in the sector to implement the NWP and theNWMP. These will be aimed to operate integrated water resources planning and management,and sustainable service delivery, while promoting decentralization and stakeholder participationand empowerment including O&M contribution. Support for critical investments will be providedfollowing the strategic framework of the NWMP and its updates supported by stakeholders, andthe demonstrated progress of essential reform actions to sustain the ensuing benefits. Alongwith these, efforts will also be made to strengthen the capacities of section institutions to (i)catalyze the provision of essential services to ensure the intended benefits such as agricultureand fisheries extension, and other necessary inputs, through effective coordination; and (ii)address the concerns of the poor within water sector interventions through their effectiveempowerment, and investment prioritization.

222. In providing assistance to this direction, particular attention will be paid to strengthenpartnership among the Government, external funding agencies, and the private sector including

NGOs and stakeholders. While effective coordination and partnership among these parties havealready been developed in particular during and after FAP implementation, they are all the moreimportant, given the establishment of the effective policy and institutional framework, within thecontext of which further assistance should be provided in the most effective manner, possiblywith the development and regular updating of a common sector roadmap. Thus, ADB’s ongoingand future assistance will be regularly coordinated within the framework of this partnership.More specific agendas and strategy of ADB’s water sector assistance are as follows.

1. Policy and Institutional Reforms

223. Policy and institutional reform is a major focus of ADB’s support for the water resourcessector. ADB’s assistance for reform process is provided in a progressive manner, based onagreed-on goals, and with emphasis on national ownership of reform process. Issues to bepursued through policy dialogue and necessary support as appropriate include the following:

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a comprehensive national water act also needs to be prepared, in which appropriateregulatory institutions for managing water quantity and quality needs to be defined.



(ii) Fostering Integrated Water Resources Management and Water Conservation.

Issues include (a) establishing institutions for preparing integrated water resourcesplans at local levels with effective involvement of local governments; (b) preparingmaster plans for specific issues such as river training; (c) establishing and operatingregulatory mechanisms for water quantity and quality management includingstandards for effluent disposal and floodplain zoning; (d) improving guidelines suchas GPWM and those for project preparation, and environmental examination; and (e)improving WARPO’s roles and capacities to meet these requirements.

(iii) Improving Service Delivery and Sustaining O&M. Issues include (a) establishing

effective institutional mechanism to support the management transfer and local O&Mfinancing; (b) improving laws and regulations for O&M cost recovery; (c) improvingtransparency and accountability in agency management; (d) defining mostappropriate WMA organizational modality and management arrangements; (e)establishing investment and O&M budgetary allocation mechanisms linked withWMA performance; (f) strengthening capacities of BWDB, LGED, and privateorganizations to support the operation of these requirements.

(iv) Improving Governance. Issues include (a) improving resources, management

infrastructure, and organizational vision and strategy of sector agencies; (b)promoting the same for local governments while defining appropriate roles, functions,and authorities; (c) strengthening anticorruption efforts through strengthening of internal and external quality control for infrastructure and other administrativesystems, and (d) improving regulatory framework of WMA management to provideannual social, technical, and financial audit.

2. Investments

224. Investments in software and hardware will be guided by the following considerations.

(i) Integrated Water Resources Planning and Management. Following the NWP andthe draft NWMP, ADB will support integrated water resources planning at locallevels, which will be followed by priority investments identified during the planningprocess, with necessary reform actions to ensure their sustainable O&M, and focusto meet the needs of the poor and the vulnerable.47

(ii) Flood and River Erosion Mitigation for the Poor. Support will be considered toprovide cost-effective, adaptive, and sustainable coping measures in deeply floodedareas and erosion-prone areas along rivers where poverty is heavily concentrated,with a focus on non-structural measures such as flood and river erosion forecastingand warning and low-cost adaptive approach such as flood proofing.

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project operations to the local governments, with further reorganization of LGEDhaving multi-disciplinary skills to promote demand-driven participatory development.



(iv) Improvement and Management Transfer of BWDB FCD(I) Schemes. ADB will

also consider supporting this thrust, building on the experience in small-scaleschemes and applying a bottom-up approach, with necessary reforms for sustainableO&M. Regarding FCDI, however, consideration of further assistance is contingent onthe demonstrated progress of irrigation O&M cost recovery in the ongoing project.

(v) Urban and Rural Water Supply and Sanitation with Arsenic Mitigation. Assistance needs to be provided to expand the coverage of urban water supply andsanitation systems, with institutional strengthening to improve operational efficiencyand sustainability in particular in areas with arsenic contaminated shallow aquifer.

Consideration should also be given to promoting appropriate mitigation options for rural arsenic mitigation on the basis of ongoing pilot activities as appropriate.

(vi) Integrated Urban Flood Protection and Environmental Improvement. Providingflood-free environment in urban centers is a high priority given their increasingimportance as a source of economic growth. Assistance needs to be provided witheffective integration with environmental improvement including sanitation, solid wastemanagement, and slum improvement, along with improved urban governance.

225. Finally, ADB will also explore the possibilities of exploring regional cooperation in thewater resources sector, building on the activities undertaken by the national Joint River Commission. While the country has 57 transboundary rivers that are shared with India, nocoordination arrangements exist regarding the sharing of water except for the Ganges River,although discussion is initiated for the Teesta River. Another issue that is important to water management in Bangladesh relates to information sharing on developments within the upper catchments. At present India provides early warning data on flood for some shared rivers suchas the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Teesta and Gumti. These bilateral arrangements need to extendand better mechanism is needed for information on development with the upper catchments. So

far, an initiative to extend the data sharing arrangements among Nepal, Bhutan, India, andBangladesh has been initiated with the assistance of the International Center for IntegratedMountain Development (ICIMOD). ADB should also pursue the possibility of furthering theregional cooperation building on these emerging cooperation between the riparian countries.

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Sector RoadmapIndicators

5 past Current 5 years 10 years



5 past Current 5 years 10 years

A. Sector OutcomesRural Poverty Incidence 45.7% 42.6% TBD TBDFCDI schemes (ha)

Agriculture productivity (Tk/ha)Poverty Incidence

5.3Mn.a.n.a.

5.3Mn.a.

>40%

5.3MTBDTBD

5.4MTBDTBD

Irrigated Agriculture% of farmland irrigatedProductivity of boro rice (kg/ha)

45%n.a.

50%n.a.

55%TBD

60%TBD

Population at risk to flooding% with forecasting and warning

53Mn.a.

54Mn.a.

55MTBD

57MTBD

Population at risk to cyclone 5.7M 5.8M TBD TBDPopulation at risk to river erosion

% with warning/ mitigationPoverty Incidence

5.0Mn.a.n.a.

5.1MNil

>70%

5.2M5%

TBD

5.4M10%TBD

Population needing flood proofing 3.2M 3.1M TBD TBD

B. Sector Outputs

Policy, Planning and Legal FrameworkNWPNWMP

National Water Act (NWA)

--

-

AdoptedDraft prepared

Beingprepared

OperatedImplemented

Adopted

OperatedImplemented

Operated

Integrated Planning at regional andcentral levels

- Pilot to beinitiated

Implemented inselected areas

Implemented inincreasingareas

Regulatory framework for water appropriation for surface water

- - Introducedin water scarcityareas

Operated inwater scarcityareas

Regulatory framework for groundwater

management

- - Introduced

under NWA

Operated in

scarcity areasManagement of water quality and naturalecosystems

EIAGuidelinesestablished

Qualitymonitored inlimited places

Affluent controlintroduced indesignatedareas

Affluent controloperated indesignatedareas

Database and tools for effective decisionsupport systems (DSS)

- Sector databaseestablished inWARPO

Databaseintegrated withsystems of other agencies

Integrated database and DSSoperated

WARPO to serve as effective macro

policy and planning organization withpossible inclusion of new IWRM roles

Supported by

consultants

Needs further

capacitydevelopment

Roles and

managementreviewed andreforms initiated

Necessary

reformssubstantiallyimplemented

Public service agency reforms inaccordance with the action plan preparedwith RNG twining missions

- Action planprepared,imple-mentationstarted

Action plan fullyimplemented

Sound planningandmanagementsystem

64

Indicators5 past Current 5 years 10 years

Flood and erosion management



Flood and erosion managementFFW system

Cyclone warning systemsCyclone sheltersFlood proofed villages after 1997

Operative

Operative ?-

Operative

Operative ?500(?)

Strengthened

StrengthenedTBDTBD

Strengthened

StrengthenedTBDTBD

River training master planErosion forecasting and warningOther mitigation measures

--

River trainingimplemented instrategiclocations

--

Ibid, lowcostmeasuresexplored

PreparedSystemPreparedTBD

InitiatedOperatedTBD

C. Sector Issues Description of issues, constraints, strategies, and milestones

1. Policy andlegislation

The Government approved National Water Policy (NWP) in 1999, which has providedeffective policy goals, guidelines and operational framework of the sector. It adopted theprinciples of integrated water resources management (IWRM) with due emphasis onstakeholder participation, strategic planning, decentralization, sound management of socialand environmental issues, sustainable O&M through management transfer, andtransparency and accountability of sector institutions.

A comprehensive Water Act to govern the utilization and management of water resources is

under preparation to provide legal basis to operationalize NWP while integrating the existinglaws and regulations relevant to the sector and providing new framework for such issues aswater appropriation and licensing, and water right administration. While its draft has beenprepared, the process towards finalization has been taking more time than anticipated.

As a national and regional planning framework, a draft National Water Management Plan(NWMP) has been prepared to provide short- to long-term strategy and priorities withinstitutional and cross-sectoral perspectives and by taking a participatory approach. Thefinalization of NWMP is awaited to further proceed with sector operations in a strategicmanner while refining and expanding its content as necessary.

2. Institutionalarrangements The National Water Resources Council (NWRC) is the water sector apex body chaired byPrime Minister to formulate water policy and ensuring inter-agency coordination. NWRC issupported by an Executive Committee to ensure prompt action on routine matters.

Water Resources Planning Organization (WARPO) was established under Ministry of Water Resources (MOWR) as the secretariat to NWRC and served as multi-disciplinary planningorganization at the national level. It is expected to oversee NWMP implementation and itsupdating in periodic intervals, to prepare regional plans, and to act as a clearing house for individual projects. However, their responsibilities in these regards are not fully defined, nor their capacity developed despite a large support for NWMP preparation, with difficulties inattracting and retaining quality staff.

Beyond integrated water resource planning, the country has not yet clearly definedinstitutional functions and responsibilities for other water management activities such asregulatory functions including water appropriation, licensing, and water rights administration,as well as cross-sectoral demand management. These need to be defined in the course of preparing and operating the Water Act.

65


since the formulation of national water policy has been the revision of BWDB’s mandate, asembodied in the new Act Recently efforts to put WARPO on a sound footing have



embodied in the new Act. Recently efforts to put WARPO on a sound footing haveweakened, but efforts to strengthen operations of flood forecasting, disaster management

and Department of Environment are continuing.

Key activities recommended for the future are: continuation of BWDB reforms, strengtheningof WARPO; establishment/strengthening of local government institutions and reform of LGED.

The BWDB reform program that has started has still to go a long way. The main thrust willhave to be following the long-term vision for BWDB and take necessary steps for transfer of small projects to local government institutions and beneficiary groups. A critical area of action is to improve governance in BWDB operations. A program of strengthening of

WARPO is also of high priority. Development of a democratic local government system thatwill design and execute local development projects and provide responsive services is a keystep for the future. As the local government system is reestablished and starts functioning,LGED’s role will have to change as well.

3. Informationmanagement

Data collection and management before WARPO was established was scattered. FAPstudies produced huge amount of relevant data and WARPO has now acquired a nationaldata set to manage and update. WARPO is expected to work with other data agencies andaddress issues such as date format compatibility, establishment of consolidated observationnetwork and rational storage and retrieval system. Institutional linkages will have to beencouraged with the Institute of Water Modeling for resource modeling, with CEGIS for data

maintaining and broader impact monitoring of water sector development activities and witheconomic institutions (such as Bangladesh Institute of Development Economics) for economic and regulation issues.

4. Increased watercompetition

Increased water competition comes through functioning of water markets. Water marketscan develop easily when water rights are well established, which have not yet happened inBangladesh. More importantly, with water scarcity limited to only a few months and sever scarcity limited further to some areas, water markets and competitive supply system havenot flourished in Bangladesh. However, informal water markets are not unknown inBangladesh. In a typical trade, a farmer sells surplus ground and surface water for aspecified period to a neighboring farmer with a greater need. In this way, water is allocated

to more valuable uses. With the rapid expansion of tubewell irrigation, informal water markets for irrigation developed quickly.

5. Deteriorating waterquality

Deteriorating water quality is arising due to uncontrolled industrial discharges. Pollution isalso increasing as a result of poor sanitation country wide as well as poorly guided use of agrochemicals. Arsenic contamination of groundwater is a serous problem now.

6. Degradation ofcoastal zone

Management of water resources in the coastal areas presents a particular problem giventhe interactions between upland fresh water flows and tidally driven saline flows. These arerendered more complex by the impacts that the coastal polder system had on thesedimentation patterns and the sustainability of the drainage networks.

7. Natural Disastermanagement

Water related natural disasters are relatively common occurrence. They include: floods,cyclones, riverbank erosion and occasional drought. Disaster management (includingdisaster preparedness) involves prevention and mitigation measures, preparedness plansand related warning systems, emergency response measures and post disaster rehabilitation. The Government has rightly emphasized on this and this is an integral

l t f t t Th k ti iti ld i l d l

66


for erosion control



8. Water resources

infrastructure

This has been the major area of public investment and donor support in the past, focusing

on mitigating the negative effects of excessive annual fresh water floods in inland areas andtidal salt-water intrusion in coastal areas. In total over $3 billion was spent on water infrastructures. Nearly 600 schemes of various combinations of flood control, drainage, andirrigation were undertaken. Over 13,000 km of embankments incorporating 1,300 water control structures and about 3,500 km of drainage canals were constructed.

External funding has been nearly $3 billion to Bangladesh Water Sector. Of this ADBprovided about $700 million and IDA $1,000 million. Bilateral assistance has been providedby 15 countries of which Netherlands, providing more than $200 million, is the largest. Thelevel of donor support came down in later half of 1990s in part due to growing concernabout slow progress in reform of key water institutions. Minor irrigation system using tube

wells and low lift pumps (where possible) will have to continue to play crucial role for agricultural growth in the future.

The lessons from large-scale irrigation scheme such as GK project clearly shows that thereis no economic justification to go for new surface water irrigation involving large scalepumping. River management schemes such as dredging and erosion control will have to beconsidered for areas of high economic importance and drainage improvement schemes willrequire case by case consideration and justification. Dredging and desiltation will be onlydesirable only in cases where dredging is combined with improved flow of the river requiringreduced maintenance dredging. As for FCD, there should be no new FCD schemes in ruralhinterland. The rationalization of the BWDB portfolio of FCD projects deserves highest

priority in the future investment program. Participatory planning and management of theFCD schemes will be important for the overall objective of improving performance of theschemes.

9. Financing In the past, the total financing was from the Central Government and total allocation variedbetween $140 million to $240 million annually with bulk of it coming from donor support.Donor support was on average about 75%. In future more contribution is expected from thebeneficiaries especially for operation and maintenance.

10. RegionalCooperation

Bangladesh being a lower riparian country, much of the big river management, includingstorage, would require cooperation with India and Nepal. India and Bangladesh now carry

out coordination through joint river commission. Sharing the water in the Ganges river hasbeen in contention since 1975 with the commissioning of Farakka Barrage. The treaty onGanges water was signed in 1996, which will be up for review in 2006. The treatyestablishes a system of information sharing on floods and also on water flow in the upper region of the Ganges. There are no formal agreements in regard to other rivers. At presentIndia provides early warning data on flood for some shared rivers such as the Ganges,Brahmaputra, Teesta and Gumti. These bilateral arrangements need to extend and better mechanism is needed for information on development with the upper catchments. Inaddition, basin wide approach of water resource management is desirable for the benefit of all the riparian countries. Although the basin-wide approach has not been taken for lack of

multi-country cooperation on the subject, information exchanges (through so called Track 2)have been extensive. These are done through the workshops and seminars attended byexperts of all riparian countries.

67

D. Actions, Milestones, and Investments By Agency

Schedule ADBOther Funding

Agencies Govt.



1. Policies, Planning, and Legal Framework

(i) NWP updated and further implemented

(ii) NWMP implemented with strengthening

(iii) Comprehensive National Water Act prepared and enacted

2003-2013

2003-2013

2003-2004

SSWR2-3SWIWRM

SWIWRM

SSWR2SWIWRM

WB and RNG(WMIP), others

WB (WMIP)

WB and RNG(WMIP)

All

WARPO,Others

All

2. Integrated Water Resources Management(i) Operating integrated water resources planning framework

(ii) Establishing regulatory mechanisms for water quantity andquality management including groundwater

(iii) Improving various guidelines including GPWM, EIA, andproject planning

(iv) Establishing effective systems of flood and erosionmitigation management

2003-2013

2004-2013

2003-2013

2003-2013

SWIWRM

TBD

SSWR2-3SWIWRM

JMREMPIFEMP

RNG (IPSWAM),

DFID (ICZM)TBD

WB and RNG(WMIP), others

DANIDA, USAID,DFID, JICA

WARPO,

Others All

BWDB,LGED

BWDBLGED

3. Improving Service Delivery and Sustaining O&M

(i) Establishing institutional mechanisms for managementtransfer of O&M

(ii) Improving laws and regulations for O&M cost recovery

(iii) Strengthening O&M budget and establishing effectivebudgetary allocation mechanisms based on performance of local WMAs

(iv) Defining most appropriate WMA organizational modality

and management arrangements

2003-2013

2003-2004

2004-2013

2003-2013

SWIWRM

JMREMPSWIWRMJMREMPSWIWRMSSWR2-3

SSWR2

WB and RNG(WMIP)

WB and RNG(WMIP)WB and RNG(WMIP)

BWDB

BWDB

BWDBLGED

BWDB

LGED, DOC

4. Improving Governance(i) Furthering agency reforms to improve transparency and

accountability of management

(ii) Defining effective roles of local governments and promotingtheir engagement and capacity development

(iii) Strengthening anticorruption efforts through strengtheninginternal and external quality control

2003-2013

2003-2013

2003-2013

SSWR2-3SWIWRMIFEMPSSWR2-3SWIWRMIFEMP

All

WB and RNG(WMIP)

WB (WMIP),RNG, DFID,JICA

WB and RNG(WMIP)

BWDBLGED

LGEDBWDB

BWDBLGED

5. Investments(i) Integrated water resources planning and management

(ii) I t t d t l t

2003-2013

2003 2013

SWIWRM RNG (IPSWAM)DFID (ICZM)WB RNG DFID

WARPOOthers

All

68

D. Actions, Milestones, and Investments By Agency

Schedule ADBOther Funding

Agencies Govt.



(vi) Improvement and management transfer of BWDB FCD(I)schemes

(vii) Rehabilitation and improvement of public irrigation systems

2004-2013

2003-2013

SWIWRM

JMREMP(CADP2)

WB and RNG(WMIP)

-

BWDB

BWDB

ADB = Asian Development Bank, BWDB: Bangladesh Water Development Board, CADP2 = Second Command AreaDevelopment Project, DANIDA = Danish Agency for Development Assistance, DFID = Department for InternationalDevelopment (UK), Govt. = Government, ICZM = Integrated Coastal Zone Management, IFEMP = Integrated Flood

and Erosion Mitigation, JICA = Japan International Cooperation Agency, JMREMP = Jamuna-Meghna River ErosionMitigation Project, LGED = Local Government Engineering Department, M = million TA = technical assistance, RNG= Royal Netherlands Government, SSWR2-3 = Second and Third Small-scale Water Resources Development Sector Project, SWIWRM = Southwest Integrated Water Resources Management, TBD = to be determined, WARPO =Water Resources Planning Organization, WB = World Bank, WMIP = Water Management Improvement Project

Appendix 169

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ADB. (1985). "Project Performance Audit Report for the Low-Lift Pump Maintenance Program in



Bangladesh (Loan No 381-BAN(SF)).".

ADB. (1990). "Project Completion Report of the Meghna-Dhonagoda Irrigation Project in Bangladesh(Loan No. 333-BAN(SF) and No. 883-BAN(SF)).".

ADB. (1991a). "Project Completion Report of the Bhola Irrigation Project in Bangladesh (Loan No 593 -Ban (SF)).".

ADB. (1991b). "Project Completion Report of the Serajgong Integrated Rural Development Project inBangladesh (Loan No 293-BAN(SF)).".

ADB. (1991c). "Report and Recommendation of the President to the Board of Directors on a Proposed

Loan and Technical Assistance Grant to the People's Republic of Bangladesh for the SecondBhola Irrigation Project.".

ADB. (1993a). "Report and Recommendations of the President to the Board of Directors on a ProposedLoan and Technical Assistance Grant to the People's Republic of Bangladesh for the Khulna-Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project.".

ADB. (1993b). "Report and Recommendations of the President to the Board of Directors on a ProposedTechnical Assistance Loan and Grant to the People's Republic of Bangladesh for the Southwest

Area Water Resources Development Project.".

ADB. (1995a). "Project Completion Report on the Ganges Kobadak Irrigation Rehabilitation Project inBangladesh (Loan No 672-BAN(SF)).".

ADB. (1995b). "Project Performance Audit Report on the Serajgong Integrated Rural DevelopmentProject in Bangladesh (Loan No 293-BAN(SF)).".

ADB. (1995c). "Report and Recommendations of the President to the Board of Directors on a ProposedLoan to the People's Republic of Bangladesh for the Command Area Development Project.".

ADB. (1996). "Project Performance Audit Report on the Pabna Irrigation and Rural Development Projectin Bangladesh (Loan No 378-BAN(SF)).".

ADB. (1998a). "Anti-Corruption Policy.".

ADB. (1998b). "Project Performance Audit Report on the Ganges-Kobadak Irrigation RehabilitationProject in Bangladesh.".

ADB. (1998c). "Report and Recommendations of the President to the Board of Directors on a ProposedLoan to the People's Republic of Bangladesh for the Flood Damage Rehabilitation Project and ona Proposal to Use Loan Savings.".

ADB. (2000a). "Aide Memoire: Loan Fact-Finding Mission for the Proposed Second Small-Scale Water

Resources Sector Development Project.".

ADB. (2000b). "Country Assistance Plan.", Asian Development Bank.

ADB. (2000c). "Project Completion Report on the Southwest Area Water Resources Development Project(Loan 1291-BAN {SF}) in the People's Republic of Bangladesh.".

Appendix 170

Aminuzzaman, D. S. (1999). A Handbook on Union Parishads Roles and Functions , Center for Administrative and Development Studies.

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. (1999). "Census of Agriculture 1996; Structure of Agriculture Holdingsd Li t k P l ti V l 1 " St ti ti Di i i Mi i t f Pl i



and Livestock Population. Vol 1.", Statistics Division, Ministry of Planning.

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. "Preliminary Report of Household Income and Expenditure Survey2000".

Canadian International Development Agency. (1999). "Bangladesh Programming Framework.".

Choudhury, Y. (2001). "The National Water Code of Bangladesh, First Working Draft.".

EGIS. (1997). "Morphological Dynamics of the Brahmaputra-Jamuna River.", Water Resources PlanningOrganization.

EGIS Consulting Australia PTY Ltd. (2000). "ADB TA No 3226-BAN: Urban Sector Strategy.".

FAP 21. (1993). "River Bank Protection and River Training Pilot Project, Final Report Planning Study, Vol2A.".

Government of Bangladesh. (1992). "Water Resources Planning Act.".

Government of Bangladesh (March 2003) "Bangladesh: A National Strategy for Economic Growth,Poverty Reduction and Social Development" (Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper - IPRSP)

Haque, Q. H. (2000). "Bangladesh Water Sector Improvement Project: Public Expenditure Review.".

Interagency Task Force. (2000). "Guidelines for Participatory Water Management.", Ministry of Water Resources and Ministry of LGRD & Cooperatives.

Meghna Estuary Study. (1999). "Prefeasibility Study of Low-Cost Bank Protection at Haimchar.", BWDB.

Ministry of Water Resources. (1999). "National Water Policy.", Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh.

NWMPP Study Team. (2000a). "Draft Development Strategy Volume 1: Summary of Options.", Water Resources Planning Organization.

NWMPP Study Team. (2000b). "Draft National Water Management Plan". Water Resources PlanningOrganization.

Pearce, F. (2001). "Death in a glass of water." Independent, London.

Ravenscroft, D. P. (2001). "unpub. comm.".

Shahjahan, A. K. M. (2000). "Country Procurement Assessment Report: Bangladesh, Volumes I and II.".

World Bank (1998). “Water Resource Management in Bangladesh: Steps Toward National Water Plan”.

World Bank (2002). “Poverty in Bangladesh: Building on Progress”. Poverty Reduction and EconomicManagement Sector Unit, South Asia Region.

Appendix 271

EXTERNAL ASSISTANCE TO THE WATER RESOURCES SECTORIN BANGLADESH (1990 onward)

Source/Project/Purpose/Technical Assistance

Currency Amount(million)

YearCommitted

LoanGrant



Project/Purpose/Technical Assistance (million) Committed Grant

CanadaNortheast Regional Study (FAP 6) and pilot worksBWDB Accounting System ModernizationDampara Water ManagementKalni-Kushiyara Community Development and

Monitoring

Canadian dollar Canadian dollar Canadian dollar Canadian dollar

17.0002.8004.5002.600

1991199419971997

GrantGrantGrantGrant

DenmarkFlood Action Plan (FAP 25)Surface Water Simulation Model (Third Phase)Expansion of food for work (FFW) ServicesMeghna Estuary Study (FAP 5B)

Denmark kroneDenmark krone

US dollar US dollar

13.3004.1008.0905.300

1993199419931994

GrantGrantGrantGrant

France

Study for Five-Year Action Plan for Flood ControlBank Protection and River Training (FAP 21/22)

FrancFranc

40.00093.000

19901992

GrantGrant

Germany

Compartmentalization Pilot Project (FAP 20)Bank Protection and River Training (FAP 21/22)

JapanNarayanganj Narsingdi Irrigation (Block A-1)Narayanganj Narsingi Irrigation (Block A-1)Meghna Bridge RevetmentJamuna Bridge (River Training Component)Naranyanganj Narsingdi FCDI Phase III Study

Deutsche markDeutsche mark

YenYenYen

US dollar Yen

13.50044.400

1,796.000977.000

1,100.00070.115

339.000

19921992

19901991199219941998

GrantGrant

GrantGrantGrantLoanGrant

NetherlandsSystem RehabilitationCompartmentalization Pilot Project (FAP 20)Early ImplementationWater Sector Advisory ServicesTA Flood Action Plan (FAP 25) Environment Study (FAP 16)Char Development and SettlementSmall-scale Water Resources DevelopmentMeghna Estuary StudyGorai River RestorationProcurement of 6 DredgersSecond Small-Scale Water Resources Development

Guilder Guilder Guilder Guilder Guilder Guilder Guilder Guilder Guilder Guilder Guilder Guilder

26.43013.41038.510

1.7100.0650.333

43.80712.00013.30047.82715.30064.385

199019911992199219921992199519961996199820002001

GrantGrantGrantGrantGrantGrantGrantGrantGrantGrantGrantGrant

United KingdomFlood Action Plan (FAP 12)Flood Action Plan (FAP 2)

Pound sterlingPound sterling

0.8501 403

19901990

GrantGrant

72 Appendix 2

Source/Project/Purpose/Technical Assistance

Currency Amount(million)

YearCommitted

LoanGrant

Review of Options for Ground and Surface Water Development

US dollar 0.170 1990 Grant



Southwest Area Water Resources ManagementStudyNortheast Minor IrrigationSecond Bhola IrrigationOperation and Maintenance Strengthening of the

Second Bhola IrrigationSecond Coastal Embankment Rehabilitation(Supplementary)Small-scale Water Resources DevelopmentStudy on Privatization of Minor IrrigationCommand Area Development

Khulna-Jessore Drainage RehabilitationKhulna-Jessore Drainage RehabilitationSouthwest Area Water Resources DevelopmentSocioenvironmental Assessment of the Meghna-

Dhonogoda Irrigation ProjectJamuna Bridge (River Training Component)Command Area DevelopmentSmall-scale Water Resources DevelopmentKalni-Kushiyara River Management ProjectSecond Small-scale Water Resources Development

Second Small-scale Water Resources DevelopmentJamuna-Meghna River Erosion Mitigation

US dollar

US dollar

US dollar

US dollar

US dollar US dollar US dollar

US dollar US dollar US dollar US dollar

US dollar US dollar US dollar US dollar US dollar

US dollar US dollar

2.150

73.000

39.800

0.790

0.5000.5480.441

0.92050.000

3.4000.119

70.11530.00032.000

0.5000.400

34.00042.200

1991

1991

1992

1992

199219921992

1992199319931993

19941995199519991999

20012003

Grant

Loan

Loan

Grant

GrantGrantGrant

GrantLoanLoanGrant

LoanLoanLoanGrantGrant

LoanLoan

International Development Association (WorldBank)Systems Rehabilitation Project (SRP)National Minor Irrigation ProjectShallow Tubewells and Low-Lift Pump IrrigationGumti Project Phase 1 (FCD 1)Naogaon Polder 1 (FCD 3)

Madhumati-Nabaganga Project (FCD 4)Jamuna Bridge (River Training Component)Riverbank ProtectionCoastal Embankment RehabilitationGorai River RestorationRiverbank Protection (Supplementary)

International Fund for Agricultural DevelopmentSmall-scale Water Resources Development

European Economic CommunitySystem Rehabilitation Project (SRP)National Minor IrrigationNorth Central Regional Study (FAP 3)River Survey Project (FAP 24)Coastal Embankment Rehabilitation Project

US dollar US dollar US dollar US dollar US dollar

US dollar US dollar US dollar US dollar US dollar US dollar

US dollar

EcuEcuEcuEcuEcuEcu

40.80038.10052.20023.00021.000

11.00070.115

121.90053.000

3.00045.000

10.400

13.50065.000

1.87012.600

2.50015.000

19901991199119911991

199219941996199619981999

1995

199019901990199019911993

LoanLoanLoanLoanLoan

LoanLoanLoanLoanLoanLoan

Loan

GrantGrantGrantGrantGrantGrant

Appendix 373

IMPACT SUMMARY

Appraisal Planned Actual Actual Components Agricultural Institutional EnvironmentalSustainability

Overall



IRR Completion IRR Completion Implemented Production Development Impacts

Sustainability

AssessmentSerajgonj Integrated Rural Development Project

29% 1982 18% 1986Most, but

major changein scope

Increased LimitedNo adverse

impactUncertain

PartlySatisfactory

Meghna-Dhonagoda Project

17.9% 1984 n/a 1989 All Increased Limited Highly positive UncertainPartly

Satisfactory

Pabna Irrigation and Rural Development Project

18% 1985 4% 1992 All, but withsubstantial

delaysIncreased Limited

Peopledisplaced,Capturefisheriesreduced

UncertainPartly

Satisfactory

Low-Lift Pump Maintenance Program

100% 1981 40.5% 1983 All Increased

Limited.Missed

opportunity to

reshapeinstitutional

policies

No adverse

impact Sustainable Successful

Bhola Irrigation Project

38% 1988 16% 1991 All, at less

than plannedcost

Increased

Satisfactory.BRDB

involvementpositive

No adverseimpacts

Yes Successful

Ganges Kobadak Irrigation Rehabilitation Project

73.4% 1990 14.5% 1994 All IncreasedLimited partlybecause of structuralchanges

Positivebecause of supportive

components

Yes Successful

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