Project area: CCRIP will be implemented in thirty-two Upazilas of twelve South-western districts (Satkhira, Khulna, Bagerhat, Gopalganj, Madaripur, Shariatpur, Pirojpur, Jhalkati, Barisal, Bhola, Borguna, and Patuakhali). These districts are very poor, least developed and vulnerable to natural disasters such as tidal surges, cyclones, and floods.

Target group: The project target group comprises the population in the catchment areas of project markets, as road communication and markets benefit everybody irrespective of income and profession. It is expected that small and marginal farmers, small traders and micro-entrepreneurs, landless people and poor women will particularly benefit. It is estimated that the total project beneficiaries over the project implementation period will reach about 600,000 households or 3.5 million people in the 12 selected districts. Out of this large target group, at least 46% or 1.6 million people are poor or very poor.

Project objectives: The goal of CCRIP is to achieve improved livelihoods, in the form of higher incomes and food security, for poor households in the selected Upazilas. The project development objective is to achieve enhanced climate resilience of coastal road and market infrastructure and people in the project area.

Project description: A Project Management Office (PMO) at the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) headquarters in Dhaka and three regional project offices (RPOs) located in Khulna, Madaripur and Barisal district headquarters will be established. A technical assistance team will assist the LGED to implement the project. The PMO will be responsible for implementation of all project activities, supervision and monitoring, quality control and project progress, train staff members, and gather lessons and disseminate knowledge generated from the project. IFAD, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW) will jointly monitor and supervise the project. CCRIP foresees three components:

 

• Improved Road Connectivity: This component aims at achieving improved road connectivity for men and women in the project Upazilas to facilitate their access to markets and social services. Under this component IFAD will fund the building of union and village roads and associated small bridges and culverts. Roads will comply with either climate resilient and/or climate adaptation standards. Roads that benefit the highest number of people, connect project markets (see below) and other important markets and remote villages will receive high priority.

• Improved Market Services: This component will enhance the volume of farm and non-farm produce marketed in selected markets. It will improve physical markets (common shed, fish shed, open paved/raised area, women section, toilet bloc, internal drainage etc.), it will build commodity collection points, boat landing platforms (ghats), it will form and strengthen market management committees, and create employment for women in construction works.

• Enhanced climate change adaptation capacity: This component aims at enabling rural communities and local authorities to cope with volatile climate events and meet their basic needs during climatic shocks. KfW will fund the construction or extension of cyclone shelters, the improvement of existing shelters, the upgrading access tracks, and will also fund complementary support measures to enhance capacity for disaster preparedness. In addition, IFAD will fund the training of the Labour Contractor Society (LCS) in construction skills and on social issues, as well as the training of market management committees members on planning, supervision of works and management of the markets. IFAD will provide a grant under this component to promote innovative technology such as for garbage management, studies such as impact studies and the development of rural radio programs. The radio program will serve to disseminate fast and widely the opportunities of the new project, market prices and other important economic and cultural information.

Important features: CCRIP is jointly funded by ADB, KfW, IFAD and the Government of Bangladesh. CCRIP is the result of a merger between the former IFAD-designed Sustainable Market Infrastructure for Livelihoods Enhancement Project (SMILE) and the Climate Resilient Infrastructure Improvement in Coastal Zone Project (CRIICZP), which was designed by ADB/KfW. ADB, KfW and IFAD had designed these projects independently from each other until May 2012, when they decided to join forces because the two projects have similar scope and an almost identical geographical coverage. The main intention of the merger was to generate synergies from:

 

• a joint focus on rural transport and market infrastructure development
• a common project area
• a reduction of adverse impacts of climate change on livelihoods, and
• reduced management costs.

In June 2012, ADB, KfW, and IFAD signed an aide memoire accepting the overall scope, financing and implementation aspects of the project. The aide memoire was then confirmed by the Government of Bangladesh. In September 2012 the project was approved by ADB’s Board. Approval by IFAD’s Executive Board of the IFAD-funded activities within the framework of the overall project is expected to take place in April 2013.

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Potential cofinanciers and domestic contribution: The total project cost is estimated to be about US$150.0 million. ADB will finance US$20 million through ADB’s Special Funds resource (loan), another US$20 million through the ADB Strategic Climate Fund (loan) and a US$10 million grant. IFAD will provide a loan of around US$39 million plus a US$1 million grant. The Government of Bangladesh will contribute US$31.2 million. KfW will provide a grant of US$8.8 million.