The World Bank would provide around US$175 million credit in soft terms for implementation of a project to improve water, sewerage and stormwater drainage services in Bangladesh's second largest city Chittagong.

According to a press release of the Washington-based multilateral bank Wednesday, the proposed Chittagong Water Supply Improvement and Sanitation Project (CWSISP) is expected to be approved by June this year.

Following detailed discussions in December 2009, it said the Bangladeshi government is at present completing its review of the proposed project scope.

The continued expansion of the country's southeastern Chittagong city, which is home to approximately 4 million people, along with inadequate infrastructure and facilities makes providing reliable water and sanitation services difficult, the World Bank (WB) said.

Current purified water production is inadequate to cover the entire population of the city specially those living in the slums, it said adding ground water is increasingly susceptible to high iron content, bacterial content, chloride and salinity.

Unplanned hill cutting is resulting in soil erosion during the monsoon season, contributing to blockage of drains in Chittagong while water-logging has become a major constraint for the development of the Bangladesh's premier port city, some 242 km away of capital Dhaka, the WB said.

It said the proposed CWSISP will support Chittagong Water Supply and Sewerage Authority to improve its services through construction of selected water production, transmission, storage and distribution facilities.

(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2010)