More than 4,800 urban slum families are getting housing facilities in Rajshahi city in phases for elevating their living and livelihood condition.
The underprivileged households, who have lands but not capacity to construct house, are getting the amenities in participatory approach under the Community Housing Development Fund.
Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) under its Urban Partnership for Poverty Reduction Project (UPPRP) has been extending requisite financial supports to this end.
City Mayor Mosaddique Hossain Bulbul and other officials concerned revealed this while inaugurating house building construction works in Assam Colony area of the city on Monday afternoon.
Local Government Engineering Department has been implementing the UPPRP in the metropolis in association with UNDP and financial and technical supports from UK aid and UN Habitat.
Main thrust of the project is to improve the living and livelihood condition of more than two and half lakh poor and extreme poor people, especially women and girls, in the Rajshahi city by-2015, said the officials concerned.
More than 30,000 women from slum and underprivileged areas across the city have come together in an anti-poverty savings scheme under the project.
Through the savings and credit programmes, the communities now can operate their own savings schemes and create a revolving fund from which credit operation are being managed by themselves.
Besides, under socio-economic fund, education grants are being disbursed among dropout school children and the education grants prevent them from dropping out of primary and secondary schools.
The programme promotes household and community level urban food production technology demonstrations, provides small input supports especially high yielding variety vegetables and fruits seeds, saplings and poultry vaccination.
It also provides business start-up grants to extreme poor women for poultry, goat rearing, beef fattening and agri-business allowing them to have access to regular income.
Besides, the ongoing apprenticeships and vocational training improve the odds of youth landing decent jobs and regular income.
Various other settlement improvement facilities like 8,484 pit latrines, one community latrine, 1403 tube-wells, 42,412 squire-kilometre footpath, 6,708 metre drain, 34 dustbins and seven community centres were developed.
Ward Councilors Munir Hossain, Belal Ahmed and Momtaj Laily Belly, UPPRP Town Member-Secretary Engineer Nur Islam Tusser and Town Manager Mahbubul Alam, among others, were present at the inaugural ceremony.
