The donor consortium led by UN Development Fund (UNDP) yesterday assured the government of providing $9 million to assist nearly 70,000 worst affected Aila victims in Khulna and Satkhira.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has also shown keen interest in repairing six severely damaged embankments located in four unions of Shyamnagar and Ashahshuni upazila of Satkhira district and Dacop and Koira in Khulna district, Food and Disaster Management Minister Abdur Razzak told journalists after a meeting with donor representatives at his ministry yesterday afternoon.
Dr Razzak, who was the most vocal minister to repair all the 47 points of damaged embanks in the cyclone Aila affected areas, said the government has so far spent Tk 100 crore for the relief activities in the area and Tk 96 crore were in the pipeline to help 48,000 families to build their homes anew.
"Each of the families would get Taka 20,000 to build houses," said the minister adding that the supports from donors and ADB would be an addition to the government's ongoing programmes that include 20-kg rice for each family per month.
The minister said decisions have been made to instruct the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), prime agency to build embankments in affected areas.
He bitterly criticised the BWDB for failure to repair protection dikes on time and all the remaining six damaged embankments by March 2011.
He said tenders should be floated by July this year so that the repair work can be started by September and embankments are repaired by March next year.
Razzak said the entire work on Aila rehabilitation programme could not be done in last 15 months due to lack of coordination and secured funding both from internal and external sources.
He, however, expressed the hope that the plight of the cyclone-affected people would go before next monsoon due in April 2011.
A total of 190 people died and at least half a million people were rendered homeless after cyclone Aila hit 64 upazilas in Bangladesh coats and parts of India on May 25, 2009. Supply of safe drinking water and repair of embankments were the key demands from the affected people in Bangladesh.
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