Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide more than $8 billion in financial support to Bangladesh in the next three years with a special focus on inclusive and sustainable growth, and regional integration.

ADB’s total financial support will stand at $8,624.4 million or around Tk 69,000 crore, including $8,606 million credit, in line with the latest country programme for 2018-2020 period.

In its earlier country programme for 2016-2018 period, the Manila-based lending agency pledged $6.15 billion in development assistance for Bangladesh

Assistance for regional road, rail and power connectivity will feature prominently in the latest country programme layout, officials at Economic Relations Division (ERD) said

Besides power, energy and transport sectors, ADB support will flow to education, skills development, water supply, urban services, financial sector and rural support

ADB’s support for energy and power sector will include financing for improving supply and access, efficiency enhancement, renewable energy and regional connectivity

Rail and road transport projects will cover regional connectivity, network development and urban transport

Education schemes to be undertaken with the ADB funds are aimed at ensuring quality of education apart from enhancing access to education and ICT education

The ADB-supported skill development programmes will meet business needs

Water supply and urban services projects will cover economic corridor development, basic municipal services and climate-resilient infrastructure.

Also, projects will be undertaken to improve financial market and access alongside capacity developmen

ADB funds will be utilised for making climate-resilient infrastructure, water management and increasing income and productivity in rural area

An ADB report says a total of 16 projects will be implemented in road and rail transport sector for which total ADB’s support will stand at $2.73 billion in the next three yea

South Asian Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Dhaka-Chittagong rail line project will get $150 million, SASEC Dhaka south-east corridor road project $400 million, SASEC Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar rail line project $200 million, SASEC rail link investment project $300 million and Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar road corridor development project $200 million.

ADB has proposed $3.10 billion loans and $2.5 grants for power and energy sector in the next three years, under which a total of eight projects will be undertaken.

Education sector will see $853.2 million financing, agriculture sector $510 million, financial sector $416.5 million water supply, urban services $957.5 million and public sector development $50 million.