A modern water treatment plant built at a cost of approximately Tk2.5 crore with Japanese assistance has remained locked and unused for six years in Pirojpur, depriving thousands of residents of safe drinking water despite an acute shortage across the municipality.
The facility, located in the Namazpur area, was completed in 2020 and later handed over to the Pirojpur Municipality. It was intended to provide treated drinking water to local residents, but has never been brought into operation.
Instead, the prolonged closure has left the plant vulnerable to theft, with locals alleging that electrical equipment, wiring and other machinery have been stolen over the years. They claim municipal authorities subsequently welded the premises shut after the thefts, leaving the facility abandoned.
Residents say the unused plant has become a symbol of wasted public investment at a time when access to safe drinking water remains one of the municipality’s most pressing problems.
Bashir Ahmed, a resident of the area, said locals had hoped the project would resolve longstanding water shortages once construction began.
“We believed the plant would supply safe drinking water to our neighbourhood and surrounding areas. Instead, it has remained unused for six years. Much of its equipment has reportedly been stolen while it lay abandoned,” he said, urging the authorities to make the facility operational without further delay.
Some residents also alleged that owners of several privately operated water purification businesses in Pirojpur had little interest in seeing the municipal plant become operational. They expressed suspicion that such interests might have been linked to the reported theft of equipment, although no evidence has been presented to support the allegation.
Municipal authorities, however, rejected suggestions of deliberate negligence.
Pirojpur Municipality Executive Engineer Dhruba Lal Dutta Banik said efforts had been made to lease the facility to a private operator so that it could begin supplying water.
“Attempts were made to lease out the plant, but no operator came forward. We have also been unable to run it ourselves because of a shortage of manpower,” he said.
He did not indicate when the plant was expected to become operational or whether the stolen equipment would be replaced.
The municipality covers around 30 square kilometres and is home to more than 1,00,000 people. Many residents continue to rely on alternative and often unreliable sources of drinking water.
Locals have urged the authorities to restore the damaged facility, replace the missing equipment and bring the plant into service as soon as possible, arguing that a project built with substantial public investment should not be left to deteriorate while the town struggles with a chronic shortage of safe water.
