The budgetary allocations under safely managed sanitation, environment and capacity-building have shown a surprising decline in the WASH allocation under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) in the budget for the 2022-23 fiscal, experts said on Tuesday.

They raised concern that this decline will slow down the country’s effort to achieve SDGs targets by 2030, according to a press release issued by WaterAid Bangladesh.

Speaker made the remarks during a joint press conference held by WaterAid along with, PPRC, FANSA-BD, FSM Network, Bangladesh Water Integrity Network (BaWin), Sanitation and Water for All, End Water Poverty, MHM Platform, UNICEF and WASH Alliance International at the city’s National Press Club.

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An analysis by the Power and Participation Research Center (PPRC), in collaboration with WaterAid, found that the WASH ADP allocation increased by 5.44% compared to an overall ADP increase of 7.5%. The total WASH Budget in the ADP budget in the proposed budget is Tk 118.2 billion of Tk 2460.66 billion of ADP allocation. 

They have stressed proper attention in selecting ADP projects and the need to reduce the WASH allocation gap across rural and hard-to-reach areas in the proposed budget.

The current budget also fell short in addressing emerging challenges in the remote areas of marginalized communities, they said.

They said the budget finds an upward trend in allocation in haor and hilly regions and this trend should be followed in coastal and char lands to ensure no one is left behind.

Besides, there is a slightly increased allocation to hygiene seen as a positive step, but implementing it through the ministry of health alone will not portray the required results for the entire country. A multi-agency holistic policy approach should be adopted as a priority, reads the release.

The speakers recommended bringing more consistency to the spatial allocation of WASH ADP as the decline in FSM allocation will hinder the aim to increase sanitation coverage across the country.

A further suggestion was made to review the proposed budget and examine this issue more closely and ensure increased FSM allocation to address the emerging WASH challenges, said the speakers.