Special Correspondent
Officials of the government and the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) will begin talks soon to prepare development programmes for the
Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and resume assistance, according to highly
placed sources.
This follows a recommendation by a UNDP-government 'risk assessment
committee' on June 13 for resumption of assistance for CHT.
Assistance for the region was suspended on security reasons after
kidnapping of three European engineers by some armed tribesmen on
February 16 last year. The Sustainable Environment Management Programme
(SEMP), launched by the UNDP earlier in cooperation with the government
and NGOs, will be the first to be resumed, the sources said.
A SEMP-UNDP assessment team is already visiting the CHT to prepare the
programme, they said. Before suspension of aid, the SEMP, through
holding 19 workshops in the CHT, had identified at least 30 projects for
implementation involving local people. UNDP Resident Representative
Jorgen Lissner at the press conference in the city on June 13 said that
Tk 4. 3 crore would now be available under the SEMP for the area.
Meanwhile, the government is also working out projects to generate
employment and alleviate poverty, and to improve the communication
system for better marketing of agricultural products in the CHT. It is
expecting donor support for the projects, the sources said. Moni Swapan
Dewan, Deputy Minister for CHT Affairs, after a six-day need assessment
tour of the region, told The Daily Star here yesterday that talks
between donors and the government will be held soon to prepare
development programme for the CHT.