Photo : Collected

DHAKA, Oct 27, 2025 (BSS) – The people of Chalna Pourashava under Khulna District, who often found it very difficult to do their daily household works due to scarcity of fresh water during the dry season and could hardly do cultivation due to intrusion of saline water in the farmlands, now witness improved quality of life since the locality has been transformed with improved connectivity, livability, and climate resilience through small-scale interventions and funding.

The fates of the people of this small pourashava have changed a lot since various development works were carried out there over the years under the Second City Region Development Project (CRDP-2) funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The CRDP-2 aims to improve urban infrastructures, livability, and planning in the Dhaka and Khulna city regions to boost economic growth potential and enhance climate resilience. It builds on infrastructure and capacity-building initiatives implemented during the first City Region Development Project, which was funded by ADB from 2010 to 2019. 

The interventions significantly improved the quality of life and resilience of the local community in Chalna by transforming the locality with improved connectivity, livability, and climate resilience, said officials concerned and beneficiaries.

The project site in Chalna is under the Chalna Pourashava where the completed key interventions were preparation of a drainage master plan for Chalna Pourashava; Re-excavation of 4.43km canal; construction of 7 bridges (93 meter); construction of 3.36km road along the bank of the canals; re-excavation of two ponds and construction of one sluice gate to prevent intrusion of saline water.

While visiting different sites of the project at Chalna Pourasha, it was found that the restoration of the canals has drastically reduced urban water-logging. Besides, approximately 721 hectares of agricultural land, which were previously limited to single cropping due to salinity and stagnant water, can now support two crop cycles annually. This improvement has increased food production, diversified crops, and improved income security for farming households, particularly benefiting small and marginal farmers living near the canals.

New roads and/or rehabilitated roads contributed to reducing travel time, from 30 minutes to an hour, in and around the town, enabling easier daily commutes to schools, local markets, health centers, and workplaces. The improved mobility has enhanced economic activities and strengthened social ties among neighborhoods once isolated by waterways.

The re-excavated ponds are providing the residents with access to clean and usable water, which was once a major challenge in Chalna due to salinity. The re-excavated ponds have improved household water security, promoted community well-being, and revived the social bonds that that thrived around shared water spaces.

ADB Country Director Hoe Yun Jeong while making visit recently to different sites of the CRDP-2 at Chalna attended at an event as the chief guest at the Chalna Pourashava with its Administrator and Dacope Upazila UNO Md Asmat Hosen in the chair. CRDP-2 Project Director Md Hamidul Hoque made a presentation.

While speaking at the Chalna Pourashava, ADB Country Director Hoe Yun Jeong said that the project operations in Chalna are a small investment or less but the impact is quite significant.

Citing his experiences while visiting the Patuakhali Pourashava, Jeong said that with the project investments, the overall revenue collection of that Pourashava has increased a lot.

“So, again creating such assets and sustaining this is really creative,” he said emphasizing on sustaining the assets created by this very investment going forward so that the people become benefitted.

Two pourashava dwellers -- Basonti Poddar and Santona Sen – shared their previous plights like scarcity of usable water and suffering from chronic and waterborne diseases. But, with the restoration of major ponds in the municipality like pursuing measures for harvesting rain water under this project, they said they now can conduct their daily household works with much ease and comfort than the previous time.    
 
The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) under the Local Government Division is the executing agency of the CRDP-2.  It is being implemented in 14 project pourashavas, two city corporations and three LGED upazila offices. As of now, 216 kilometers (77% of total 280 km) of urban roads and 80 km (84% of total 95 km) were rehabilitated with climate resilience in Dhaka Region, 24 Km drain (100%) in the Khulna Region, while a solid waste management treatment plant is now under construction. 

Approved in August, 2019, the project is expected to be completed in December, 2025. The total project cost is $223 million where ADB provided $150 million, while the government contributed $73 million. ADB approved the partial cancellation of a $15 million loan. The revised total loan amount is $135 million.