Capacity, transparency keys for access
Bangladesh needs to build capacity and ensure transparency in the implementation of climate projects to win access to the $9.3 billion international green climate fund which was created in 2012, speakers said at a discussion yesterday.
Bangladesh has not qualified to share the fund because it is yet to develop a national implementation body, they said.
Transparency International Bangladesh organised the discussion on "Good Governance in Climate Financing: Global and National Perspective" at a hotel in the capital, shedding light on Bangladesh's performance in executing the existing projects and malpractices in those.
Speakers said the authorities could not ensure proper implementation of projects under Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund (BCCTF) and Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund, which could send a wrong signal to the world community.
So far Tk 2,067.59 crore was released from BCCTF in 236 government projects but only 56 projects, or 23 percent, have been completed, said Zakir Hossain, senior programme officer of TIB, in a paper titled "Challenge of Good Governance in Climate Financing".
At least 85 projects were supposed to be completed within June 30, 2009, but only 20 percent of works of the 85 projects are finished now, while 70 to 80 percent of the projects' fund is already released, he said, citing newspaper reports.
Under BCCTF, non-government organisations are carrying out 63 projects worth Tk 25.06 crore.
Zakir Hossain said half of the Tk 2 crore fund of the "Ship breaking yard" project was already released, but the work was yet to start.
He said TIB itself unearthed stories of malpractices in the construction of BCCTF-funded cyclone resilient houses without walls and sanitation facilities. However, later BCCTF gave additional funds to complete the half-finished building, he added.
In his paper, "Climate Finance: Global Perspective and Expected Role of Bangladesh", Mizan R Khan, a professor at North South University, said Bangladesh could show that adaptation and development could go hand in hand. Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of TIB, was present on the occasion.
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