'50 pc population to suffer from water shortage'

This was stated by Syed Shafique Ahmed at a workshop on 'Third World Water Forum Outcomes for Bangladesh" in the city yesterday.

The workshop was organised by the Institute for Environment and Development (IED) at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology premises.

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It was the follow up of another workshop titled 'Third World Water Forum' held in Japan in March 2003.

The workshop sought to pool specific recommendations from different governments, civil society members, NGOs and water-related researchers.

Shafique Ahmed who represented Bangladesh at the workshop, said marginalised rural and urban poor should have a greater participation and voice in water management for effective health and sanitation management in the country.

"Bangladesh could be part of the Asian Development Bank and UNHABITAT which will invest $510 million in water sector in Asian region" he said adding "This is an opportune moment for Bangladesh to consolidate its negotiations with the donors."

He said Bangladesh currently receives a paltry 6 per cent out of the total $15.7 billion allocated for water related projects from the ADB, compared to 17 per cent of Pakistan and 24 per cent of Indonesia.

Reporting on the dire condition of national sanitary practices, he referred to recent surveys by various organisations which said only 20 per cent of the population use soap or ash after defecation while only 19 per cent of children use sanitary latrines.

About the recent estimate that 125,000 children die from diarrhoea in Bangladesh every year, the keynote speaker informed the participants that investment into sanitation, water and hygiene have reduced diarrhoea by 36 per cent.

Representatives of UNICEF, NGO Forum, Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad and Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon also spoke on the occasion.

A S M Shahjahan, former advisor to the caretaker government, presided over the workshop while Khandaker Anwarul Huq moderated the discussions.