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Asian Development Bank (ADB) has committed to provide US$161 million for developing Bangladesh's technical manpower and urban sector facilities.
The Economic Relations Division (ERD) signed three loan agreements with the ADB on Monday in Dhaka to get the fund under three separate projects.
The Manila-based lender will provide an additional $150 million in loan under the Skills for Employment Investment Programme (SEIP) and $11 million in loan to help develop two priority urban sector projects in water supply and sanitation.
Monowar Ahmed, Secretary of the ERD, and Manmohan Parkash, Country Director of the ADB, signed the agreements.
The $150 million loan will be the third and last tranche of the ongoing SEIP in providing market-responsive skills training through partnerships with public institutes, industry associations and other organisations, covering skills requirements in 10 industry sectors.
The $11 million in loan will help develop two priority urban sector projects including Secondary Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Project under the Department of Public Health Engineering, and Narayanganj Urban Development Project under Narayanganj City Corporation.
Under SEIP project, the government and private sector will train about 320,000 people, 30 per cent of whom will be women.
It will support new training specifically targeted at socially disadvantaged groups (including people with disabilities) and women entrepreneurs to ensure inclusive skilling efforts.