Bangladesh - Resilient Urban and Territorial Development Project : Additional Financing

Overview & Synopsis

The development objective of the Bangladesh Resilient Urban and Territorial Development Project for Bangladesh is to enhance access to climate resilient urban infrastructure and services in selected clusters and to strengthen urban management capacity in selected urban centers. The additional financing is requested to replenish resources that were repurposed to activate the Bangladesh Contingent Emergency Response Project and to address the resulting financing gap without changing the project’s scope, while also redesignating Thakurgaon and Faridpur as nodal cities to reflect their strategic roles along the economic corridor. The Bank will continue supporting climate resilient urban services and infrastructure through investments in roads and connectivity, drainage and flood management, pedestrian walkways and footpaths, markets, public buildings, parks and open spaces, and nature-based solutions, alongside regional and cross-cluster infrastructure that strengthens urban rural linkages. Institutional strengthening will be advanced through Performance Based Conditions on operation and maintenance and climate sensitive urban planning, capacity development in urban management, technical assistance for cluster level and municipal planning, and sustained project management, monitoring and evaluation, fiduciary, and environmental and social risk management, implemented by the Local Government Engineering Department through the existing Project Management Unit and municipal Project Implementation Units. The project intends to directly benefit approximately 17 million people, including women and vulnerable groups, by improving climate resilience and service quality, increasing own source revenues of participating urban local bodies by twenty percent from baseline, delivering nodal city development plans that integrate cluster development and climate resilience, establishing Town Level Coordinating Committees with at least one third female membership and a female co chair, generating more and better paid job equivalents linked to transport and drainage improvements, and maintaining robust citizen engagement, grievance redress, and independent verification of results, while retaining the Contingent Emergency Response Component to enable rapid response to eligible crises.