World Bank approves $300m for Bangladesh to fight Covid-19

The World Bank approved $300 million for Bangladesh yesterday to help the country strengthen its urban local government institutions to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic and improve preparedness to future shocks.

The funding will benefit about 40 million urban residents, said a press release from the World Bank.

The Local Government Covid-19 Response and Recovery Project will support urban local government institutions to effectively respond to and recover from the pandemic.

A total of 329 municipalities and 10 city corporations will have the provision to receive funds bi-annually from the project.

The project will provide local institutions with training and technical support, and set up a web-based platform for better coordination and exchange of information during emergencies.

It will be implemented in all eight divisions – Barishal, Chattogram, Dhaka, Khulna, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Rangpur and Sylhet.

The project will support labour intensive public works to restore the livelihoods of poor and vulnerable people, mostly working in the informal sector, who were most affected by the Covid-19 restrictions and lockdowns.

"The Covid-19 pandemic had hit the poor people in urban areas hard, caused income losses and disrupted basic service delivery. But the city corporations and the municipalities can play a critical role in helping the urban poor recover from the pandemic as well as get cities prepared to handle future shocks," said Mercy Tembon, the World Bank country director for Bangladesh and Bhutan.

The eligible urban local bodies will install community hand-washing stations and toilets and improve sanitisation in municipality-owned or operated markets, burial grounds, and public offices.

The project will help the residents have better access to municipality-operated health clinics and facilitate vaccine registrations for disadvantaged people.

Besides, it will conduct awareness programmes on Covid-19 protocols, vaccines, and climate risks.

It will create 1.5 million days of temporary work as well as employment for 10,000 women under the public work scheme.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed the number of urban poor up to 27 million," said Shenhua Wang, World Bank senior urban development specialist and task team leader for the project.

"The project will carry out labour-intensive public works and operations and maintenance schemes that in one hand will ensure water supply and sanitation, drainage, and other critical services reach low-income areas, slums, and areas exposed to high disease outbreak and disaster risks and in other hand create jobs for the poor urban people," added Shenhua Wang.

The credit is from the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA), which provides concessional financing.

Bangladesh currently has the largest ongoing IDA programme totaling over $14.15 billion.