To mitigate some of the risks facing both the forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals (FDMNs) and their host communities, the government is implementing a project for smoothing the rural connectivity in Coxs Bazar district.
Under the project titled Emergency Multi-Sector Rohingya Crisis Response Project (EMCRP), the government is building 268 kilometers roads in several upazilas, including Ukhia and Teknaf under Coxs Bazar district.
The government is also building 40 resilience new cyclone shelters, 10 new cyclone shelters, one relief administration and distribution centre, 34 multipurpose community service centres, 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 street lights.
Talking to BSS, Project Director of the EMCRP, being implemented by 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 Worlds fastest growing refugee crisis.
"About 10.00 lac Rohingyas have crossed the border from Myanmar to several camps across Coxs 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, tremendous pressure on social service delivery system including road communication, crowding and congestion in haat-bazar.
Executive Engineer of LGED Coxs Bazar Md Mamun Khan said LGED has done extensive work under the project at the local level for socio-economic development.
He informed that 268 kilometers road development and rehabilitation works are being done.
Among the roads, he said, work of around 200 kilometers has been completed. —BSS
