The grant assistance forms part of an envisaged package totaling $200 million.
Secretary, Economic Relations Division (ERD) Kazi Shofiqul Azam and Country Director, ADB, Manmohan Parkash signed the agreement on behalf of Bangladesh and ADB, respectively, at a ceremony in Dhaka.
“The grant assistance project has been prepared, processed and approved at an extraordinary speed in two months after ADB received a request for grant assistance from Government of Bangladesh in May 2018,” said Country Director Manmohan Parkash.
He said they are very happy that ADB’s member countries quickly approved the fund as grant since ADB doesn’t have a separate window for providing grant for displaced persons.
“We have already started implementing the sub-projects,” Parkash added.
The ADB $100 million grant project will support the displaced people sheltered in camps in the Ukhia and Teknaf upazilas of Cox’s Bazar focusing on water supply and sanitation, disaster risk management, energy, and roads.
The project will rehabilitate roads within the camps to connect essential food distribution and storage centers, and provide emergency access, said the regional development bank.
It will also resurface the road from Cox’s Bazar to Teknaf and other critical sections.
To address water needs, the project will provide mobile water carriers, community bathing facilities, and build small piped water supply systems and waste management facilities, together with small water treatment plants.
Solar powered and mini grid-connected street lighting will be provided and electricity substations, distribution lines, and transformers will be augmented to better serve the area, according Manila-based international development finance institution.
The southeastern part of Bangladesh is highly susceptible to various types of natural hazards, as well as cyclone and monsoon seasons, which include flooding, landslides, lightning, fires, and heat waves. Given these potential challenges, the project will construct cyclone shelters with emergency access roads, walls to protect against landslides, and a storm water drainage network.
ADB support will be aligned with the multi-sector Joint Response Plan prepared by the UN-led Inter Sector Coordination Group in coordination with the government.
The project has been developed and will be implemented in close coordination with United Nations agencies, the World Bank, and other donors and humanitarian agencies.
The first phase is costing $100 million over about 2.5 years.
The first ADB $100 million grant will come from the Asian Development Fund (ADF), while the government will provide $20 million.
The scope and timing of a second phase of ADB grant support of a further $100 million will build on the progress of the first phase.