Will PM self-finance projects like dealing with climate change, asks Rehman Sobhan

Economist Rehman Sobhan wonders whether Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will take up the political challenge of self-financing projects to tackle climate change impacts, as she did in case of the Padma Bridge.

“The prime minister has taken up a political challenge by starting the Padma Bridge work with self-funding,” he said on Saturday.

“Against this backdrop, will the prime minister be able to take up another challenge if the donors do not release money from the climate fund?” he asked.

Prof Sobhan was presiding over the ‘annual talks’ of the research organisation CPD at a city hotel on Saturday.

Prof Rehman Sobhan was the member of the first Planning Commission set up by the government of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman government.

Currently, he is the chairman of the CPD. The Awami League leaders are vehement critics of this organisation.

Climate and environment experts, diplomats, environmental organisations and representatives of civic organisations attended the programme.

After inaugurating the Padma Bridge work, Hasina had said that Bangladesh had just shown to the world its capability to self-finance the country’s biggest-ever infrastructure project.

Bangladesh is vulnerable to climate change. According to a recent study, the country will need Tk 3 trillion in next 15 years to deal with the challenge.

Though world leaders have taken initiatives to create a climate fund to assist vulnerable countries, the developed nations are yet to give the pledged amount.

Executive Chairman of the Climate and Development Knowledge Network Simon Maxwell was the main speaker at the CPD annual talks.

He said to tackle the climate change challenges, importance should be given to three factors. These are right leadership, policy framework, and implementation of those policies.

“To ensure the sustainable development of Bangladesh, right leadership is essential to bargain with world leaders to get funding from the climate fund. To use the fund properly, the right policy needs to be formulated and implemented,” he pointed out.

Environment pollution in Bangladesh was also discussed at the event.

Prof Rehman Sobhan said for the last 30 years, the CPD had been demanding in vain to make the Buriganga River free of pollution.

He said the waste from Hazaribagh tanneries is being discharged into the Buriganga.

“We are now seeing a drama over the shifting of tanneries from Hazaribagh,” he said.

He alleged that all water bodies around Dhaka were being encroached upon to construct buildings.

Shifting of tanneries from Hazaribagh, making the Buriganga pollution-free and taking steps against illegal structures upon water bodies around Dhaka were the big challenges, he said.