Donors may help recover from flood damages
Wednesday, 8 August 2007
FHM Humayan Kabir
The bilateral and multilateral donors are likely to come forward to help Bangladesh to recover from damages and consequential losses caused by the deluge throughout the country.
The local consultative group (LCG), a platform of the donors working in Bangladesh, will hold a special meeting today (Wednesday) in Dhaka on the current flood situation in order to find out ways to extend cooperation, official sources said.
Sources in the Economic Relations Division (ERD) told the FE Tuesday that the LCG had called the special meeting to review the situation arising from the devastating flood that engulfed most of the country.
Meanwhile, the Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed, on Sunday in an address to the nation appealed to the development partners at home and abroad to support the flood-hit people.
According to government estimates until Monday, more than 8.7 million people of 1.9 families in 239 upazilas in 39 districts have been marooned. Besides, about 1.4 million acres of crop field and 0.689 million houses have been submerged fully or partially while around 59,567-km of flood protection embankment and over 2,800-km of roads have been washed away by the devastating flood throughout the country.
Different development part ners of Bangladesh including Asian Development Bank (ADB), UK's Department for International Development (DFID), Japan, European Commission (EC), USAID, United Nations, International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Dutch and Swedish governments will attend the LCG meeting, with the World Bank's country director and also chairperson of the LCG, Xian Zhu, in the chair.
The LCG comprises of 32 Bangladesh-based representatives of bilateral and multilateral donors of the Bangladesh Development Forum (BDF) and the ERD Secretary represents the government and also holds the post of co-chairperson of the group.
A senior ERD official said: "The ERD secretary, Aminul Islam Bhuiyan, in the meeting Wednesday will brief the Bangladeshi development partners on the present flood situation and the extent of damages. Describing details on the current deluge, the Secretary may also inform the donors about necessary cooperation to recover from the flood losses."
The bilateral and multilateral donors are likely to come forward to help Bangladesh to recover from damages and consequential losses caused by the deluge throughout the country.
The local consultative group (LCG), a platform of the donors working in Bangladesh, will hold a special meeting today (Wednesday) in Dhaka on the current flood situation in order to find out ways to extend cooperation, official sources said.
Sources in the Economic Relations Division (ERD) told the FE Tuesday that the LCG had called the special meeting to review the situation arising from the devastating flood that engulfed most of the country.
Meanwhile, the Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed, on Sunday in an address to the nation appealed to the development partners at home and abroad to support the flood-hit people.
According to government estimates until Monday, more than 8.7 million people of 1.9 families in 239 upazilas in 39 districts have been marooned. Besides, about 1.4 million acres of crop field and 0.689 million houses have been submerged fully or partially while around 59,567-km of flood protection embankment and over 2,800-km of roads have been washed away by the devastating flood throughout the country.
Different development part ners of Bangladesh including Asian Development Bank (ADB), UK's Department for International Development (DFID), Japan, European Commission (EC), USAID, United Nations, International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Dutch and Swedish governments will attend the LCG meeting, with the World Bank's country director and also chairperson of the LCG, Xian Zhu, in the chair.
The LCG comprises of 32 Bangladesh-based representatives of bilateral and multilateral donors of the Bangladesh Development Forum (BDF) and the ERD Secretary represents the government and also holds the post of co-chairperson of the group.
A senior ERD official said: "The ERD secretary, Aminul Islam Bhuiyan, in the meeting Wednesday will brief the Bangladeshi development partners on the present flood situation and the extent of damages. Describing details on the current deluge, the Secretary may also inform the donors about necessary cooperation to recover from the flood losses."