[Bangladesh] Infrastructure develpoment key to poverty alleviation

from The Daily Star

Experts tell workshop
Staff Correspondent

Improvement of infrastructure is the key to alleviate poverty in the country, said the experts at a workshop yesterday.

They said improvement of road, telecommunication and electricity infrastructure has improved rural livelihoods in northern region although many poor households have little access to these facilities.

The workshop titled 'Urban-rural linkages in Bangladesh: Impact of infrastructure and the food value chain on the livelihoods and migration of landless households, women and girls in the northern region' was organised by Care Bangladesh at Brac Inn Centre in the city.

Chairman of Urban Studies and Department of Dhaka University and Urban Planner Prof Nazrul Islam presided over the workshop while Assistant Country Director of Care Kelly Stevenson inaugurated the programme.

Dr Shyamal Chowdhury and Maximo Torero, Researcher of International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) of Washington DC, made the presentation at the workshop.

They conducted a survey in 16 villages of four districts in Rajshahi division. The districts are Thakurgaon, Kurigram, Bogra and Rajshahi.

The findings show that a combination of public and private sector investments in infrastructure is creating employment opportunities by ensuring access to income-generating activities and providing better linkages between rural producers and urban markets.

These also show that due to improvement of infrastructure, landless people are increasingly engage themselves in non-agricultural activities which are more lucrative.

It also helps them work away from home, increase overall number of working hours and create more scope to improve productivity.

Improved infrastructure in the region is also changing the lives of rural women reducing their time spent in unpaid work and enabling them greater mobility especially at night and during the monsoon.

The researchers suggested that the investment in infrastructure should be coordinated by the government to maximise benefits.

They said the total road network in the region was increased to 4443 km in 2002/2003 from 3122 km in 1990/91.

Similarly, tele-density (the number of fixed lines per 1000 people) had increased to 3 in 2002/2003 from 0.8 in 1990/91 and the total number of rural telephone subscribers increased to 58,279 in 2002/2003 from 5, 603 in 1990/91, they added.