2024-07-04 16:15:48
Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives. Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) South, Central and West Asia Vice President Yingming Yang held a meeting with Tajul Islam.
A six-member delegation led by Yingming Yang participated in the meeting at the Secretariat of the Local Government Minister’s office on Tuesday (July 2).
In the meeting, the local government minister said that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a reliable development aid organization of Bangladesh. Among the 227 projects under implementation by the local government department in the financial year 2024-25, 10 projects are implemented with the help of ADB. The amount of financial allocation is 22 thousand 355 crore 71 lakh taka. As one of the financial partners of Bangladesh and local government department, we want this support to continue.
He also said that Cyclone Remal, which swept over the coastal region of Bangladesh recently, and floods in Sylhet Division and other regions caused huge damage. Whereas the loss of local government engineering department is around 1600 crores and the loss of public health engineering department is around 400 crores. In addition to the ongoing projects with ADB, we are expecting financial assistance from ADB in support of coastal and flood-prone areas. We have proposed to take about 11 billion dollars of financial support from various international financial support institutions. We can also take that assistance subject to conditions. Or we will cover this loss with our own funding.
Yingming Yang, ADB’s Vice President for South, Central and West Asia, said the Asian Development Bank, as a social development agency, works to reduce poverty in Asia and the Pacific through economic growth, sustainable environment and regional integration. Besides, ADB provides all assistance in how to transition from developing countries to developed countries. We are also optimistic about Bangladesh. We want Bangladesh to become a developed country from a developing country.
He also said that this is my first visit to Bangladesh. Through this visit, the Asian Development Bank also wants to work in parallel with the future goals and objectives of the Minister of Local Government.
In the meeting, ADB’s Country Director Edimon Ginting, Chief Engineer of the Directorate of Local Government Engineering. Ali Aktar Hossain, Chief Engineer of Directorate of Public Health Engineering Tushar Mohan Sadhu Khan along with senior officials of Asian Development Bank and Local Government Department were present.