The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $58.6 million grant and a $28.1 million concessional loan to improve infrastructure and services for displaced people from Myanmar and their host communities in Bangladesh.
The financing package, drawn from the Asian Development Fund and concessional lending windows, will support the Integrated Services and Livelihood for Displaced People from Myanmar and Host Communities Improvement Project, targeting the Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char areas.
The initiative will enhance access to clean water, sanitation, hygiene, food security, roads, drainage systems, and disaster resilience.
It will also upgrade safety infrastructure and support solar-powered streetlights, fecal sludge management systems, and biogas production in camps.
The project includes gender- and disability-sensitive food distribution centers and multipurpose cyclone shelters in Hatia that double as schools.
In Cox’s Bazar, a surface water treatment plant will be built to address water scarcity in Teknaf, alongside piped water systems across nine subdistricts.
Road and bridge upgrades in both Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char aim to improve mobility and service delivery, while nature-based solutions will be used for drainage canal rehabilitation.
The program builds on ADB’s earlier support of $171.4 million for displaced populations and host communities since 2018.
More than 1 million displaced people from Myanmar—about 75% of them women and children—currently live in 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar, with over 36,000 relocated to Bhasan Char in Noakhali district.
ADB said the new project will also strengthen government capacity to manage and implement large-scale infrastructure and social protection initiatives.
Business News Asia