Grant Signed for Erosion-Affected Poor in Jamuna-Meghna Floodplains
DHAKA, BANGLADESH - ADB and the Government of Bangladesh today signed a US$790,000 grant to help the erosion-affected poor in the Jamuna-Meghna Floodplains. Funded by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, financed by the Government of Japan, the grant assistance will help reduce poverty of about 20,000 people who were displaced by river erosion, became landless, and settled in riverside areas. Hua Du, Country Director of ADB’s Resident Mission in Bangladesh, signed on behalf of ADB, while ERD Secretary Md Ismail Zabihullah signed for the Government. Yonezo Fukuda, Deputy Chief of Mission, Japanese Embassy, Dhaka, was also present at the signing ceremony. The grant project will pilot and establish a community-based, self-help mechanism of social development for informal settlers living on and around the flood embankments, as well as for other landless people, within the areas covered by the Meghna-Dhonagoda Irrigation Project and the Pabna Irrigation and Rural Development Project, which are supported under ADB’s Jamuna-Meghna River Erosion Mitigation Project (JMREMP). The grant project will create regular jobs and other income-generating activities with the effective use of water resources facilities, such as routine maintenance of the embankments, nursery development and social forestry, and fish culture and livestock development. It will also establish information and resource centers that will serve as centers for networking, training, skills development, and monitoring and evaluation. In return, the beneficiaries will operate and maintain water management facilities, thereby contributing to their long-term sustainability. Riverbank erosion displaces around 100,000 people every year in Bangladesh, a deltaic floodplain. The JMREMP will help provide a secure environment to beneficiaries by means of riverbank stabilization, which will also protect the informal settlers. However, their biggest challenge remains economic survival in terms of livelihood sources and incomes. “Good opportunities exist to help the poorest households by providing them with income-generating opportunities on public land and water bodies. Opportunities also exist to sustain the benefits of water management infrastructure by seeking to engage these households in routine O&M of these facilities in return for their use of public land,” says Kenichi Yokoyama, an ADB Project Engineer. “The grant project capitalizes on these opportunities.” The Government, local NGOs, and beneficiaries will contribute $404,000 toward the project’s total cost of $1.194 million. The Bangladesh Water Development Board is the executing agency for the project, which will be carried out over three and a half years. JFPR was set up in 2000 with an initial contribution of ¥10 billion (about $90 million), followed by additional contributions of $155 million and a commitment of $50 million. About ADB | 
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