News Desk :
Bangladesh and the World Bank on Sunday signed a $300 million financing agreement to help the country strengthen its local urban institutions to respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and improve preparedness to future shocks.
The Local Government COVID-19 Response and Recovery Project will benefit 39.9 million urban residents in all eight divisions. It will help its cities and towns to build back better as they recovers from the pandemic and prepare for future shocks, including climate change, disasters, and disease outbreaks, according to a release
from the World Bank, reports UNB.
In addition, 329 municipalities and 10 city corporations will receive funds bi-annually from the project to improve critical urban services and infrastructures to mitigate and respond to climate change impacts, disasters, and future disease outbreaks.
The agreement was signed by Economic Relations Division Secretary Sharifa Khan Sharifa Khan and World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan Mercy Tembon Mercy Tembon on behalf of the Government and the World Bank, respectively.
The credit is from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), which provides concessional financing, has a 30-year term, including a five-year grace period.
World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan Mercy Tembon said that Bangladesh is rapidly urbanizing. With around 36 per cent of the population living in urban areas the city corporations and the municipalities can play a critical role in helping the urban poor recover from the pandemic as well as prepare to handle future shocks.
