Department of Public Health Engineering

The DPHE is focused on providing safe water access to the 11% of the population at risk of arsenic contamination and transitioning to climate-resilient infrastructure.

DPHE established 1936 (British East Bengal administration), sanitation mandate added 1945, rehabilitated post-1971 independence. Parent is Local Government Division (slug: local-government-division), which itself falls under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives. Head title is 'Chief Engineer' (not Director General); current incumbent is Md. Abdul Awal with 'Routine Duties' designation, confirmed from official DPHE officer list (dphe.gov.bd); head_since is null because no appointment date is published in accessible primary sources. Staff count 6,879 (Class I: 231, Class II: 713, Class III: 3,137, Class IV: 2,798) sourced from assignmentpoint.com citing DPHE institutional profile; no contradicting primary figure found. Annual budget not separately published; embedded in LGD ADP envelope. Arsenic contamination confirmed in 61 of 64 districts, 249 of 470 upazilas above 50 ppb threshold; DPHE first identified contamination in Chapai Nawabganj in late 1993. On the '$375M Metro Dhaka Water' specification: the correct verified figure is $370 million (World Bank Board approval February 10, 2026, P506770); DPHE is NOT a direct implementing agency on this project -- it is implemented by Dhaka North/South City Corporations, Narayanganj City Corporation, Gazipur City Corporation, and DWASA, coordinated by LGD; the $375M figure does not match any verified source. BD Rural WASH P169342: World Bank $300M + GoB $50M co-financing, approved August 20, 2020; DPHE co-implements with PKSF. BMWSSP P161227: World Bank + AIIB $100M municipal water project, DPHE sole implementing agency; loan closed December 31, 2024. Verification based on 2+ independent primary sources for all major factual claims. safely managed drinking water national coverage approximately 59% (JMP 2025 report via UNICEF data); safely managed sanitation 37% (2024, up from 25% in 2015).