NGOs to obtain climate cash after final review
All the 53 non-government organisations that were entitled "in principle" to receive cash from the government's Climate Change Trust Fund will be reviewed before the final allocation, as allegations have surfaced about their ability to implement climate projects.
"We are going to review their proposals and also their capability of implementing the projects before disbursement of the fund," said State Minister for Environment and Forests Dr Hasan Mahmud after a meeting of Climate Change Trustee Board yesterday.
His remarks followed a report published in a Bangla daily about selection of incapable and inexperienced NGOs to accomplish the small projects in different climate-hit areas to reduce the adverse impacts.
The minister, however, tried to defend the work of officials concerned, saying, "the technical committee just selected those organisations in principle." They were still conducting their review about the project and the organisations, he added.
"It was not the final selection. They would not get any fund until we check them properly."
Hasan Mahmud also bashed the newspaper that ran the report yesterday, saying the news was not written with a good intention as the report expressed concerns about misappropriation of climate fund when not a single penny has yet been allocated.
Four government projects involving Tk 39.64 crore were approved in the meeting while two other government projects were sent back for necessary corrections, said the minister who presided over the 10th meeting of the Climate Change Trustee Board yesterday.
These projects will be implemented mostly in Dhaka, Narayanganj, and Chittagong and in haor areas.
Hasan Mahmud also said that so far Tk 548 core have been allocated in different government projects and Tk 200 core more will be allocated before the coming budget.
The Climate Change Trust Fund is a government fund of Tk 700 crore, created from government's own resources.
Members of Climate Change Trust Fund including Shipping Minister Sajahan Khan, State Minister for Water Resources Mahbubur Rahman, Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) chairman Qazi Khaliquzzaman Ahmad, and Prof Habibur Rahman of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) were present at the meeting.
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