To restore 10,000 hectares coastland at Urir Char in 2 years
The government will be constructing a rubber dam at Urir Char near Noakhali to reclaim around 600square kilometres of land from the Bay.
The board of trustees of Climate Change Trust Fund approved the two-year-long project of Tk 37.40 crore at a meeting at the Environment and Forests Ministry yesterday.
“We are expecting the cross dam to increase our landmass,” said State Minister Dr. Hasan Mahmud, who chaired the meeting.
Water Development Board (WDB) will initially reclaim 10,000 hectares, said Dr. Mihir Kanti Mazumder, secretary to the Ministry of Environment and Forest. However, in future the total quantity of land recovered will be 600square km, he added.
Twelve projects proposed by different non-government organisations to cope with the adverse effects of climate change were placed before the board, of which four were approved costing Tk 87.95 crore.
The fate of the remaining projects will be decided in the next meeting.
The other projects which obtained approval are, a botanical garden in the city of Chittagong worth Tk 22.80 crore, digital mapping of forests of Bangladesh at Tk 25 crore and repair of Kumira ferry terminal at Tk 2.75 crore.
The board also approved 75,000 dollars for covering expenses such as rent, and event management in line with the United Nations conference for climate change to be held in December in Cancun, Mexico.
Finance minister Abul Maal Muhit, Minister of Food and Disaster management Dr. Abdur Razzaque, Health Minister AFM Ruhal Haque, Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan, State Minister for Water Resources Mahbubur Rahman, Dr. Atiur Rahman, governor of Bangladesh Bank, Q K Ahmed, chairman of Palli Karma Sahayata Foundation (PKSF) were present at the meeting.
Different agencies of the government will implement these projects in cooperation with the Environment and Forests Ministry.
Earlier the government had approved 34 projects costing Tk 335.17 crore from the fund of Tk 700 crore.
The board has decided to retain Tk 238 crore which is 34 percent of the fund as fixed deposit.
The remaining Tk 462 crore will be spent on various projects fighting the undesirable impacts of climate change on the environment.
The government sought different pilot projects from government and non-government organisations and received around 3623 projects.
