Bangladesh: Rural Infrastructure Improvement II

Agriculture, natural resources and rural development - Agricultural policy, institutional and capacity development

Efficient rural transport and supporting infrastructure are indispensable in reducing poverty and in achieving a rapid economic development of Bangladesh. Investments in the rural infrastructure sector have been made by the Government with substantial assistance from external donors including the ADB. The Project draws on experience and lessons learned from previous projects particularly in mainstreaming the participatory approach and empowering local government. The Project area consists of 23 districts in the Rajshahi, Dhaka and Chittagong divisions that were selected because of the poverty level, poor state of development of the road infrastructure, and the need for strengthening the local governance. Improving the rural roads and the associated infrastructure will provide the local inhabitants with efficient transport to markets and trading centers and access to social and welfare services. These improvements will lay the foundation for better economic opportunities and assist in reducing poverty. Strengthening the local government units will enable them to plan, manage and maintain the local infrastructure. Stakeholders from the private sectors such as bus owners and operators, rickshaw drivers, farmers, and local traders will be consulted on their transport needs. Local participation will create a sense of ownershipo and focus greater attention to effective maintance.

The project is consistent with the Government's rural development strategy, which emphasizes rural infrastructure development as a prerequisite for overall development. It is in line with the Government's and ADB's poverty reduction strategies, as indicated in the Government's NPRS, and ADB's 2006-2010 country strategy and program. The proposed project forms part of the country's Master Plan for Rural Roads, which was prepared by the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED).

Rural Roads upgraded

Growth center markets/jetties/ UPCs improved

Capacity of LGED and LGIs strengthened

Support for Project Management provided

Based on the project as of June 2013, 100% women members participate in the Union Council meetings; 40 Women Market Sections (WMSs) have been completed and handed over to female shop owners; and 55 UCCs constructed and started functioning and the process of relocating all union level government offices in the UCC compound completed.

Physical progress in 100%. LGI training by institutional capacity building consultants were completed in December 2010. LGED Engineers and other staff in the project areas were trained on technical, management, monitoring and participary process related to the project. 137 LGED Engineers were also trained on Result Based Management (RBM) concept and application for project management.

The project was classified by ADB as category A for Involuntary Resettlement (IR) that refers to significant involuntary resettlement impact. The draft Resettlement Plan (RP) prepared during the project design identified 213 Project Affected People (PAPs), either for physical displacement or having significant impact of resettlement, in Monipur Dugdugir Haat Road subproject in Rangpur. It was anticipated that many of the similar subprojects would have significant impacts of involuntary resettlement. However, the subproject location and alignment was changed from the alignment of the RP, and most other project roads were constructed or improved on the existing alignment of LGED's earthen/HBB road, which did not require any new land acquisition or physical displacement of PAPs. So, the RP prepared during PPTA was not required for implementation, and no more resettlement plan was required for other road sub-projects. Other infrastructures (i.e. Haat Bazar, Cyclone Shelters, River Ghats, UPS etc.) were also constructed on the existing available lands, leading to minimal physical displacement.

Despite nominal impact of IR due to the project's intervention, the Resettlement Framework was translated in Bangla and distributed to all project offices up to upazila level, as a part of information disclosure scheme and compliance of the Project's safeguard requirement. Total 8.646 acres of land was acquired for 7 subprojects at Comilla, Gazipur, Jamalpur, Narayanganj, Narshingdi, and Rangpur. So far, total BDT31,982,912 was paid for the land acquisition. No grievance was reported related to land acquisition or any type of IR. The cumulative number of PAPs with significant impact of resettlement due to the project's intervention did not exceed 200 people for the whole project. As a result, the project could be reclassified to category B for IR safeguard.