DHAKA, June 22, 2022 (BSS) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) today approved
a US$41.4 million grant to help improve infrastructure and manage the basic
needs of displaced persons from Myanmar sheltered in Cox's Bazar district.

The grant forms the second phase of the ADB's ongoing Emergency Assistance
Project, a US$100 million grant approved in 2018.

"The new assistance will strengthen the resilience against Covid-19 and any
future pandemic by expanding health facilities and improving water supply and
sanitation," said ADB Country Director for Bangladesh Edimon Ginting.

"Disaster shelter centers, health facilities, improved water supply and
sanitation and better waste management, which will be provided with ADB
assistance, will reduce disaster risks and serve basic human needs of the
camp population until their repatriation," he added.

The grant, approved today, will build 200 water and sanitation facilities and
three solid waste management facilities, and establish a piped water supply
system at Ukhiya, said an ADB press release here.

It will, among others, upgrade four healthcare facilities for severe acute
respiratory infection, expand six primary healthcare and diagnostic centers
in Teknaf, improve skills of healthcare workers in Cox's Bazar district and
construct a multipurpose disaster-resilient isolation center to help with the
Covid-19 response.

The Cox's Bazar district is in the southeastern part of Bangladesh which is
highly susceptible to disasters triggered by natural hazards.

To strengthen disaster resilience and help protect displaced persons, six
school-cum-cyclone shelters in local primary schools and one multipurpose
cyclone shelter, which will also function as a Covid-19 isolation center,
will be constructed. About 13 kilometers (km) of rural access roads leading
to the camp facilities will be upgraded.

In addition to the new grant assistance, ADB today approved a US$30 million
concessional loan to rehabilitate a 30.76 km section of National Highway-1 to
improve the transportation of relief and essential goods between Teknaf and
Cox's Bazar.
 
The improved road will facilitate economic activities and income generation
in the region, benefiting both the displaced persons from Myanmar sheltered
in the camps and the host community.

ADB support has so far provided clean drinking water, bathing facilities,
food distribution centers and disaster shelters benefitting over 1.2 million
people in the camps and host communities.

Safety in the camps also improved through solar street lamps and lightning
arresters. Roads, walkways and bridges inside the camps improved the overall
management of the camps as well as food distribution and other services.