WB Approves $500m Loan to Bangladesh for Flood Shelter Construction

The World Bank on Friday approved a loan worth $500 million to Bangladesh for the construction of around 500 multipurpose flood shelters, access roads, and climate-resilient community infrastructures.

In normal times, the flood shelters will be operated as primary schools and they will be equipped with solar energy systems, water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities, said the WB in a press release.

The WB said that the credit under the Resilient Infrastructure for Adaptation and Vulnerability Reduction project would help save lives and properties in the highly flood-prone districts in the Teesta-Brahmaputra-Jamuna, Padma, and Surma-Meghna river basins.

The multipurpose flood shelters will be built in Nilpamari, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Rangpur, Gaibandha, Bogura, Pabna, Sirajganj, Rajbari, Faridpur, Gopalganj, Madaripur,  Sunamganj and  Habiganj.

The project will also support the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100, a long-term plan to achieve a safe, climate-resilient, and prosperous delta, as well as the World Bank Group’s Climate Change Action Plan 2021-2025.

The credit is from the World Bank’s International Development Association, which provides concessional financing, and has a 30-year term, including a five-year grace period.