Tk 500cr CHT uplift project takes off this month

Guidelines for the project were approved at a meeting of the CHTRDP Regional Co-ordination Committee, held in Rangamati on July 13.

Chairman of CHT (Chittagong Hill Tracts) Regional Council and President of the CHTDRP Regional Co-ordination Committee (RCC) Joytirindra Bodhiprio Larma alias Santu Larma presided over the meeting.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

High officials of ADB and CHTDRP, Chakma Raja Debashis Roy, Bandarban Hill District Council member Lushai Mong, Rangamati Hill District Council member Japan Chakma and Khagrachari Hill District Council Executive Engineer Ashsh Kumar Biswas, among others, were present at the meeting.

The CHTDRP will be implemented in phases in five years, meeting sources said. In the first phase to be implemented in the current financial year, 25 villages in 25 upazilas in the three hill districts will be brought under some 'pilot projects' involving a total of Tk nine crore. After evaluation, more 100 villages will be included in the next financial year, they said.

"The guidelines have been approved and the project work will begin now" Lushai Mong told this correspondent yesterday.

He said the meeting discussed the problems in detail and unanimously approved the guidelines.

Each village will get an allotment of Tk 36 lakh for projects in the first year. Education, healthcare and sanitation will be given priority. The union committee will frame the projects and decided whether these will be in areas inhabited by Bangalees or indigenous people.

With this money, a local committee will be able to take up so many projects as one project will not involve more than Tk two lakh, the sources said.

To create employment, 10 per cent of the project cost will be spent as wages for local people engaged in the projects.

NGOs will be engaged mainly for orientation and creating awareness among local people in implementation of the projects.

Implementation of the project will be monitored at the national level by a National Project Steering Committee (NPSC) headed by the Deputy Minister for CHT Affairs. The RCC is responsible for preparing project guidelines.

A Community Development Committee (CDC) will supervise the work at the grassroots level with the cooperation of a Beneficiaries Committee (BC).

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) sanctioned the Tk 500 crore funds for development of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The project was approved at the behest of the UNDP.

But it was delayed as the guidelines could not be finalised because representatives of Bangalee and indigenous people could not agree on their stakes.