Bangladesh to spend additional Tk 9.3bn on Rohingya project, mostly with donor funds

The government has increased the estimated cost of a project on the Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar by Tk 9.3 billion to reduce the risk of damage from natural disasters.

Donors will provide the government with most of the additional funds for the multi-sector emergency response project, which also aims to provide social services to the refugees from Myanmar.

The initial cost of the project had been estimated at Tk 10.58 billion. Now the total cost is nearly Tk 20 billion after the first amendment of the project.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council or ECNEC cleared the extension in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday.

Safe drinking water, health care and education will also be provided under the project, Planning Minister MA Mannan said at a press conference after the meeting.

The World Bank and Germany’s development agency KfW are providing Tk 9.19 billion as grants while the government is funding another Tk 108 million.

The Bangladesh government had funded Tk 95.6 million of the project’s initial cost approved in 2018.

A total of 50 cyclone centres, development of about 223 kilometre roads, 371 metre bridges, 467 metre culverts and 34 multi-purpose community centres will be constructed inside the Rohingya refugee camps under the project.

The local community hosting the refugees will also benefit from the project, Mannan said.

The Local Government Engineering Department is expected to implement the project by June, 2024.

The ECNEC approved a total of four projects, including the extension of the one for the Rohingya, at a total estimated cost of Tk 16.5 billion.

The other projects approved at the meeting are-

>>Development of infrastructure of National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam Islam University (|first amendment);

>>Anwara and Patia Rehabilitation Project in the coastal areas of Chattogram (second amendment); and

>> Women’s self-employment and poverty alleviation at Bangladesh Industrial Technical Assistance Centre or BITAC (second phase).