$60 Million ADB Loan to Provide Sustainable Urban Services in Mandalay
Chilly Chan/MBT
Mandalay skyline.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $60 million loan to improve the urban environment and boost public health through better water management in Mandalay.
The country’s second-largest city is home to 2 percent of the population and generates about 8 percent of the national GDP, however, infrastructure and urban service delivery remain very weak.
The piped water system reaches only 55 percent of residents, sanitation consists of septic tanks connected to roadside drains and latrines, and solid waste is dumped into the canals. Mandalay is also prone to intense flooding during the wet season.
ADB said the project will build a new water treatment plant and rehabilitate and extend the existing supply network, with the goal of raising the number of households connected to an uninterrupted water supply from 19,000 to 124,000.
It will also build Mandalay’s first centralised wastewater collection and treatment plant to reduce the direct discharge of wastewater into canals and creeks, and carry out awareness programs for residents on the environment and health.
The project will run for seven years, with a target completion date of March 2023.
“Mandalay has enormous potential to become a national economic centre, driving growth along the economic corridor linking India to China through Mandalay. However urban services are still substandard and the city is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change,” said Eri Honda, principal urban development specialist in ADB’s Southeast Asia Department.
“The assistance will focus on providing modern water supply and wastewater management, and making these sustainable.”
A special feature of the project will be the generation of biogas from sludge, which will be used to produce electricity to provide up to half the wastewater treatment plant’s power needs.
ADB’s loan will be complemented by $56.8 million in cofinancing, with $46 million from the French development agency Agence Française de Développement, $6.8 million from the European Union’s Asian Investment Facility, and $4 million from the Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund. Myanmar will provide counterpart support of $13.1 million.
