| dc.description.abstract | For construction of the Bhairab-Ashuganj Bridge, the government acquired land on both sides of the
Meghna river that affected the owners of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) and their
employees in the area. To remedy the possible negative impact, a Social Action Plan (SAP) was
prepared to ensure that affected persons receive appropriate compensation and other support to
reconstitute their livelihoods. Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCDB) was
given the responsibility to implement the plan. The purpose of this monitoring was to assesses the
achievements in implementing the plan, identifies weaknesses, if any, and recommends remedial
measures. Several approaches such as review of documents, survey of the affected persons and rapid
appraisals with stakeholders were used to monitor the implementation of SAP. The monitoring data
were collected in February-March 2000.
The monitoring report covers various aspects of compensation payments and grievance resolution
mechanisms of the plan. The achievement of the project was poor and insignificant at the time of
monitoring. The progress of the implementation of SAP was very slow. In Bhairab side, of the 2,374
project affected persons (PAPs) identified by CCDB, only 102 were compensated, 20 cases were ready
for approval but not paid, and 54 cases were in the process. In Ashuganj, no payment was made but
154 cases were ready for payment, 200 were sent to Dhaka for clearance, and 94 cases were in the
process.
No indication of inconsistency between the official and actual payments and no incidence of
deduction from payments were found. However, all affected persons had to pay extra-money in various
occasions to receive payments. CCDB never demanded extra-money but asked affected persons to
submit supporting documents. Most of the affected-persons expressed their dissatisfaction about the
performance of CCDB. They had to spend many workdays to collect necessary documents. Each wage
labourer, on average, had to pay about Tk. 450 to receive Tk. 2,400.
The Project Compensation Policy (PCP) was generally followed in calculating the amount of
compensation defined in the SAP. The affected persons were unhappy about the calculation
procedure, felt that the value of land was heavily under-estimated and demanded actual market value
for the acquired property. The provision of paying Tk. 2,400 for losing job regardless of the type of
employment created a negative image on RHD and CCDB. | en_US |
