Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Md Tajul Islam has said that Sylhet WASA will be established soon to solve the problem of water and sewerage in Sylhet.
He made the comment while addressing a consultation meeting on setting up of 'Water Supply and Sewerage Authority' (WASA) in Sylhet City Corporation area as per Water Supply and Sewerage Authority 1996 organized online on Sunday.
The local government minister said Sylhet is one of the most important cities in the country. The urban dwellers need to be provided with much needed civic amenities. There is a need to build environmentally friendly, sustainable and people-oriented drinking water supply and sanitary drainage system for the people of the city.
Md. Tajul Islam informed that necessary instructions have been given to the concerned ministries, departments and Agencies to take immediate action for issuing Gazette Notification, Organogram, Formulation of Employment Rules and other activities as initial steps for formation of WASA in Sylhet. The minister expressed hope that it would be possible to establish Sylhet very soon.
The ministry is are working tirelessly to protect the overall environment by adopting and implementing realistic sustainable projects for the development of potable water supply management in urban and rural areas, added the minister.
The minister said, “The government has placed more emphasis on groundwater use by reducing dependence on groundwater resources. To this end, various steps have been taken to increase the use of river water in urban as well as rural areas, digging ponds, and using ground water through groundwater harvesting.”
In this context, he further said that according to SDG, it has been promised to ensure 70% surface water by 2030. Bangladesh will achieve the target before this time.
“There are water problems in many countries of the world. Being a riverine country, we have less problems with water than many other countries in the world. Even after this we are working to build potable water and healthy sewerage system in remote areas of the country,” said the LGRD minister.
Taking part in the meeting, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said that the population of Sylhet has increased many times over. Hence, it has become urgent to establish a WASA here. He thanked the Minister for Local Government for taking the initiative to establish Sylhet WASA from this realization and promised all possible assistance for its speedy implementation.
The meeting was attended by Helaluddin Ahmed, Senior Secretary, Local Government Department, Ariful Haque Choudhury, Mayor, Sylhet City Corporation and senior officials of the concerned ministry.