Photo : Collected
To mitigate some of the risks facing both the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals (FDMNs) and their host communities, the government is implementing a project confirmed on Friday (21 June) for smoothing the rural connectivity in Cox’s Bazar district.
Under the project titled ‘Emergency Multi-Sector Rohingya Crisis Response Project (EMCRP)’, the government is building 268 kilometres of roads in several upazilas, including Ukhia and Teknaf under Cox’s Bazar district.
The government is also building 40 resilience new cyclone shelters, 10 new cyclone shelters, one relief administration and distribution center, 34 multipurpose community service centers, six haat-bazaars (markets), two fire service offices, one LGED building, nine fire-fighting warehouses and many drains, culverts, and bridges inside the camps.
Under the project, the government is also setting up lightning arresters and solar streetlights.
Talking to BSS,Project Director of the EMCRP, being implemented by the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Javed Karim said the project is helping build and rehabilitate basic infrastructure, improve community resilience, and help prevent gender-based violence against the forcibly displaced Rohingya population.
He said the mass fleeing of hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas in order to avoid the death or persecution in the northern Rakhine province of Myanmar (Burma) for neighboring Bangladesh since August 2017 has caused the advent of the World’s fastest growing refugee crisis.
“About 10.00 lac Rohingyas have crossed the border from Myanmar to several camps across Cox's Bazar District in Teknaf and Ukhia Upazilas, placing an immense strain on the existing infrastructure and on an already resource-constrained social service delivery system and the environment,” he added.
He said the large influx of the Rohingya population outnumbers the host community by about 3:1 in the affected Upazilas, posing significant risks of exposure to natural disasters, and tremendous pressure on social service delivery systems including road communication, crowding and congestion in haat-bazaar.
Executive Engineer of LGED Cox’s Bazar Md Mamun Khan said LGED has done extensive work under the project at the local level for socio-economic development.
He informed us that 268 kilometres of road development and rehabilitation works are being done.
Messenger/Sourov
