Although the government has branded its latest rural-development scheme as a climate-resilience and livelihood project, most of its spending will go for building roads, markets, and ghats rather than improving the income and adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities.
Under the proposed "Climate Resilient and Livelihood Enhancement Project (CRALEP)," the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) plans to construct 334 kilometres of roads, 72 kilometres of walkways, and dozens of market and ghat facilities in the haor and drought-prone Barind regions.
Officials and analysts, however, have questioned whether the project, estimated to cost Tk 12.69 billion, reflects the government's true priorities in tackling climate vulnerability, as its design remains heavily infrastructure-centric, with comparatively modest allocations for training, livelihood diversification, or adaptation-focused initiatives.
The Local Government Division has recently submitted the project proposal to the Planning Commission with an estimated cost of Tk 12.69 billion, aimed at promoting climate adaptation and sustainable livelihoods, officials said.
Of the total cost, Tk 3.05 billion will be borne by the government exchequer, while the remaining Tk 9.64 billion will come from external sources, including loans and grants from development partners.
Officials said the Agriculture, Water Resources and Rural Institutions Division of the Planning Commission earlier held a meeting of the Project Evaluation Committee (PEC) and decided to place the proposal before the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for final approval.
The five-year project is expected to begin in January 2026 and continue until December 2030, covering 33 upazilas in eight districts under the Mymensingh, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Chattogram, and Dhaka divisions.
According to project documents, the initiative seeks to reduce poverty, promote sustainable livelihoods, and enhance resilience to climate change impacts in vulnerable areas.
However, a large portion of the proposed spending is allocated to physical infrastructure, not livelihood enhancement or adaptation activities.
The project includes construction of 334 km of roads, 58 market facilities, 34 river ghats, 72 shelters or flood refuges (locally known as killas), 480 sanitary latrines, and 720 tube wells.
It also plans to introduce village protection measures in 280 villages, provide vocational training for 40,000 youths, and develop 20,000 young entrepreneurs through targeted support and training.
A breakdown of costs shows that nearly two-thirds of the total allocation would go to road, market, and ghat construction, while livelihood, training, and adaptation-related components would receive comparatively smaller shares.
This heavy infrastructure orientation has prompted questions about the project's alignment with its stated climate resilience objectives.
Several officials familiar with the proposal said that despite being labelled a climate-resilient initiative, the project structure resembles conventional rural infrastructure programmes, with limited emphasis on livelihood diversification or adaptive capacity-building.
They also noted that multiple infrastructure projects are already ongoing in the selected regions under various ministries and agencies, raising concerns about overlap, duplication, and cost-effectiveness.
Minutes of the PEC meeting hosted by the Agriculture, Water Resources and Rural Institutions Division last April reveal that the Planning Commission recommended enhancing the livelihood and training components to make the project more climate-focused. However, the final version of the proposal does not reflect significant changes in that regard.
Officials and analysts said that while the CRALEP project claims to promote climate resilience and sustainable livelihoods, its implementation plan remains largely infrastructure-centric.
As a result, they added that doubts persist over how effectively it will deliver on its stated goals of building adaptive capacity and improving long-term resilience in climate-vulnerable regions.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will provide a loan worth Tk 8.54 billion to implement the project, while Tk 1.10 billion will be provided as grant assistance by Denmark's development agency, Danida.
"Managing foreign assistance is relatively easier under the banner of climate adaptation and mitigation," said Dr Mustafa K Mujeri, former Director General of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).
He added that several ministries and divisions are taking advantage of this, putting forward proposals that do not genuinely align with the country's actual climate challenges.
Commenting specifically on the haor regions, he urged the government to prioritise protecting existing environmental assets rather than constructing environmentally damaging infrastructure such as roads.
He also stressed that the focus should be on safeguarding the income and livelihoods of the communities already living in these areas.
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