Sustained water sector investment can help fuel growth: ADB

Multilateral lending agency Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said that the governments in Asia and the Pacific region should continue their investment in water infrastructure to avoid threats to their economic growth.      

ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda expressed concern that national and municipal governments would react to the economic crisis by cutting or postponing infrastructure investments, particularly in the water and wastewater management sector.      

However, "This is actually the time to be sustaining and increasing financing to fuel infrastructure investment to be the engine of growth once again," he said in a release.      

Kuroda further said, "Stagnant investments in this sector may compromise our energy and food security, as well as our economies and environment, creating a significant new threat to both poverty reduction and economic growth."      

The economic recession can present opportunities, noting that a shortage of public funding for water sector infrastructure could be filled by private sector investments, he added.      

ADB's Water Financing Programme 2006-2010 seeks to double investments in rural and urban water services and basin water management to well over $2 billion annually. 

In 2004, 63.5 crore people in the Asia-Pacific region did not have access to safe drinking water, and currently 186 crore people do not have access to adequate sanitation, according to the release.     

Additionally, the region's recent strong economic growth, population pressures, and increased urbanization have combined to sharply increase water use, while pollution and climate change pose further threats to the precious resource.