In Gopalganj Paurashava, the Local Government Division (LGD) and UNDP Bangladesh have launched a climate-resilient housing project for 336 urban low-income families.
The initiative was formally inaugurated on Tuesday by Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, MP, who laid the foundation stone.
The housing scheme is being constructed on 3.19 acres of land donated by the paurashava, with a budget of BDT 30.33 crore, as part of the Livelihoods Improvement of Urban Poor Communities Project (LIUPCP), a collaboration between the LGD, the UK Government’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and UNDP Bangladesh.
It will offer facilities including agricultural land, playground, courtyard, pond, kitchen market, walkway, rainwater harvesting, fire safety, efficient solar energy sources and power substation.
“The Government has been working tirelessly to ensure improved lives for a cross-section of people. Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has set a target in Mujib Borsho that not a single person will remain without address or home. We are working to ensure an address for everyone so that no one is left behind,” Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, MP said while inaugurating the scheme.
Kazi Liaquat Ali, Mayor, Gopalganj Paurashava, Dipak Chakraborty, LGD Additional Secretary, Sudipto Mukerjee, UNDP Bangladesh Resident Representative, John Warburton, Team Leader and Senior Climate Change Adviser of FCDO in Bangladesh, Ashekur Rahman, UNDP Bangladesh Assistant Resident Representative, Md Abdul Mannan, former National Project Director, LIUPC project, Md Iqbal Hossain, Additional District Magistrate
The housing situation for Bangladesh’s urban poor is extremely difficult, as it is typically filthy, inadequately serviced, and heavily inhabited. They are also frequently located in environmentally hazardous locations, which have a severe impact on the lives of the urban poor on a regular basis, with a higher prevalence of illness and vulnerability to climate change.
Despite its significant historical and political significance, Gopalganj Municipality lacks fundamental amenities found in a first-class municipality, such as well-designed housing for residents, well-organized drainage networks, roads, sanitary systems, and recreational facilities.
In this context, the LIUPC project has developed cheap and climate-resilient homes for the extreme poor living in Gopalganj’s urban slums.
The cooperation of the Community and Paurashava, according to Kazi Liaquat Ali, Mayor of Gopalganj Paurashava, ensured inclusiveness during each design process.
Following the formation of a community organization, which will decide on a monthly charge to handle operation and maintenance work and expenditures, this newly established varied community will lead and govern the housing complex on their own. Utility services will be paid for by homeowners.
The selected beneficiaries’ tenure will be guaranteed for 99 years, and ownership will be shared by the household leader and his or her spouse. The house, however, is not rentable, saleable, or transferrable.
The recipients of these dwelling units will be determined through a thorough selection procedure that takes into account household income, dependents, length of stay, climate distressed/displaced population, landlessness, homelessness, and disability, among other factors.
