Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a Technical Cooperation agreement with the Government of Bangladesh on “The Project for Improvement of Management Capacity of Chattogram Water Supply and Sewerage Authority” on Monday. The project aims to enhance Chattogram WASA's capacity to improve its service delivery, strategic project planning, and financial management. JICA has a longstanding commitment to collaborating with Bangladesh in the Water Supply and Sanitation sector, especially in Chattogram. JICA to assist govt in preparing power distribution plan for Dhaka The agreement was signed by MIURA Mari, Senior Representative, JICA Bangladesh Office; AKM Shahabuddin, Additional Secretary, Economic Relations Division; Mr. AHM Kamruzzaman, Joint Secretary, Local Government Division, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives; andAKM Fazlullah, Managing Director, Chattogram Water Supply and Sewerage Authority. Chattogram city, the second largest city in Bangladesh, with a population of around 7 million, has historically relied heavily on groundwater for drinking water. NCDC launches national guideline on hypertension with JICA’s support JICA's support to Chattogram city began in 2003 with an engineering study in response to the severe drinking water crisis in the city. The initiative identified the need to develop surface water sources and enhance the institutional capacity of Chattogram Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (CWASA) to address its growing population. Over the years, JICA has supported CWASA in mitigating the water crisis, focusing on water supply capacity development and reducing non-revenue water. JICA’s supported water treatment plants supply 286 million liters daily, meeting about 60 percent of Chattogram city's demand. JICA has also conducted surveys in its sewerage sector. JICA seminar on ‘Private Sector Contribution to the SDGs’ held CWASA's services for safe water supply have improved tremendously.  However, further work is needed to provide more clean water and serve its growing population. The new Technical Cooperation is expected to maximize the benefit of CWASA's services and transform CWASA into a sustainable water sanitation service provider of international standards. This new project for CWASA focuses on improving financial management, water treatment plant operation, non-revenue water reduction, customer communication, and inter-WASA collaboration. Through these the project aims to enhance CWASA's overall management capacity, ensuring sustainable and efficient water services.

The Sheikh Russel water treatment plant is scheduled to be inaugurated on Sunday to mitigate the crisis of drinking water in Chattogram City.