Dhaka: Dhaka Water Supply & Sewerage Authority (Dwasa) is going to introduce the first-ever Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) device – Vacutug - under Public Private Partnership (PPP) to increase hygiene coverage in the capital.

In this regard, Dwasa on Wednesday signed a Vacutug Lease Agreement with Gulshan Clean and Care under a PPP initiative at Wasa Bhaban in the city.

Dwasa commercial manager Uttam Kuma Roy, WASH specialist of Unicef Shofiqul Alam, WSUP country manager Abdus Shaheen, project manager of NGO Forum for Public Health M Nurun Nabi were, among others, present at the signing ceremony.

The PPP initiative is supported by Unicef Bangladesh in collaboration with Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) Bangladesh.

Officials said environmental hygiene in Dhaka city is at stake due to the absence of modern FSM services for more than 80% households, causing prevalence of different types of intestinal and water borne diseases. Dwasa now can bring only 20% households under the FSM service.

This agreement will allow households of the city to have access to Dwasa-supported professional emptying services, known as SWEEP. In most cases, pit latrines and septic tanks are manually emptied by informal service providers, posing health risks to both the public and the service providers themselves.

Sharing their views at the signing ceremony, Dwasa officials pointed out that improved FSM service is imperative to address the increasing demand of the densely populated Dhaka city.