Char Development and Settlement Project (CDSP) Bridging Project was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday.
The project is jointly financed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the government of Bangladesh. The government of the Netherlands is providing technical assistance to CDSP-B.
Chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the Ecnec meeting approved the DPP amounting Tk264 crore, which will be implemented by Bangladesh Water Development Broad (BWDB).
The major intervention of BWDB is 171km re-excavation of drainage channel, 6km re-sectioning of embankment, maintenance of sluices and replacement of eroded sluices; land acquisition for retired embankments and new sluices.
Other key implementing agencies of CDSP are the Ministry of Land, Local Government Engineering Department, Department of Public Health Engineering, and Forest Department.
Earlier this year the DPP for the Ministry of Land amounting to Tk11 crore for distributing land titles among 6,000 families was approved by Planning Minister MA Mannan.
IFAD Country Director Omer Zafar says: “The CDSP-B is the latest in a series of truly transformational projects in the southern chars. They represent an exemplary model of institutional coordination among public institutions in service of disadvantaged population groups.
“They have stabilised shifting land, developed productive and social infrastructure, allocated land titles to very poor women and men, and introduced modern agriculture technology and market linkages. These projects have transformed the chars into islands of community prosperity and given hope and pathways out of poverty to hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people.”
CDSP’s achievement in the land settlement process in Bangladesh’s coastal char areas is very laudable. The process promotes community participation and transparency in the process whereby landless families receive land titles.
“Development projects, such as, CDSP IV have been working to improve socioeconomic conditions of the people in costal chars. In the chars, people need to cope with erosions, cyclones, soil and water salinity and other associated adversities. Continuation of the project help sustain development in the coastal chars amid all the adversities,” says Md Shamsuddoha, project coordinating director from BWDB.
During the additional financing period, CDSP IV will cover the chars - Nangulia, Noler and Caring, Urir and Ziauddin.
The project builds climate-resilient infrastructure, ensures land settlement and titling, provides livelihood support for char dwellers, and ensures community participation in water management, social forestry and micro-finance.
The project works to reduce the current vulnerability to climatic conditions and help char communities adapt to climate change impacts. The project aims to improve and secure rural livelihoods for 28,000 households in coastal chars and the additional financing will increase the reach out to 57,000 households.
