Bangladesh

 Except  the two-tier co-operative system,  out of four components of the Comilla Model,  LGED has been implementing the remaining  three components  - namely, Works Programme, Upazila Irrigation Programme and  Construction of Upazila Training and Development  Centre since 1961-62, designed at the Comilla Academy for Rural Development.  Later, the Rural Works Programme was launched at the national level. 

The objective of the said programme was to develop physical infrastructure e.g.  construction of roads, bridges, irrigation/drainage, construction of embankments, re-excavation of silted ponds, development of markets, etc.  and creation of employment opportunity for the poor people.  In order to carry out the  Rural Works Programme nation-wide, the Works Programme Wing (WPW) was created in 1982 under the Local Government Division as per recommendations of the  `Enam Committee'.  Later in 1984, the Works Programme Wing was converted into the Local Government Engineering Bureau (LGEB) under the Local Government Division as per decision  of NICAR.  In 1992, LGEB was upgraded  as the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED).

In the interest of rural development, the Government formulated a Strategy for Rural Development in 1984.  The components of the strategy were as follows:

1. Development of physical infrastructure including roads, bridges/culverts, storage and markets.
2. Irrigated agriculture, minor drainage and flood control works.
3. Production and Employment Programme for the Rural Poor.

The Chief Engineer acts as the  chief executive of LGED.  He is assisted at the headquarters by two Additional Chief Engineers, six Superintending Engineers(SE), six Executive Engineers(XEN) including one Executive Engineer (Mechanical), one Assistant Chief Engineer and four Assistant Engineers(AE) including one Assistant Engineer (Mechanical).  Including the engineers a total number of 89 employees are working at the LGED headquarters. 

The total number of employees at the district level is 762 including the Executive Engineer and one Assistant Engineer in each district and one Assistant Engineer (Mechanical) in addition in each greater district.  8785 persons including 469 Upazila Engineers are working at the upazila level. At present, LGED's total number of employees is around 9347 under the revenue budget.  Besides,  there are six more Superintending Engineers at regions  and ten District Training Engineers at ten regional training centers  under the revenue budget.

Strategy for Rural Development Project :

The Government’s rural development programme, which has its origin in the early 1960s, was conceptualized essentially as an instrument for providing support for increasing agricultural production. The rural development model as conceived by the Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD) and known as the “Comilla Model” emphasized the formation of cooperatives and the integration of support services provided by government departments. The model had the following four major elements:

1. Two tier cooperatives – Krishak Samabaya Samity (KSS) and Thana Central Cooperative Association (TCCA)

2. Rural Works Programme (RWP)

3. Thana Irrigation Programme (TIP)

4. Thana Training and Development Centre (TTDC)

During the 1970s, Food for Works (FFW) constituted an important element of rural development in Bangladesh. In addition, a few multi-sectoral rural development projects were taken up during late 1970s.

The Government of Bangladesh (GOB) formulated and adopted Strategy for Rural Development (RD) Projects (A Sectoral Policy Paper of the Planning Commission) in January 1984. The RD strategy contained the following three components:

1. Development of physical infrastructure including roads, storage and markets

2. Irrigated agriculture, minor drainage and flood control works

3. Production and employment programme (PEP) for the rural poor

The strategy has provided that RD projects may be taken up with any of the above components or in combination of the above components. Such projects would cover a minimum of one full administrative district. Duplication among projects will be avoided.

Bridge constructed on FRB under a RD project

Women’s corner in Growth Centre constructed under a RD project

Bangladesh Rural Infrastructure Strategy Study, 1996 :

 A study on Bangladesh Rural Infrastructure Strategy was jointly conducted by the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) and the World Bank (WB) in 1996. The main conclusions of the study are as follows:

·    The strategy’s growth centre approach (which focuses public investments on selected growth centres, which are selected based on well-defined criteria to indicate their socio-economic importance) remains valid.

·    No major changes are required, only some readjustments or “fine tuning” may be justified in the light of the experience acquired by different rural development projects.

·    Targets will have to be reset after the recent increase of growth centres from 1400 to 2100 due to population and regional growth and regional priorities will have to be defined in view of the natural potential of the regions.

·    Some minor readjustments will be needed in the spatial distribution of infrastructure investments to be fully in line with agricultural production and potential.

·    The study recommends further to put more emphasis on user/community participation in planning, implementation and monitoring, improved use of local resources, such as, local materials and the continued use of labour intensive techniques with appropriate equipment, co-ordination in the use of complementary modes of transportation, specifically waterways, increasing the role of the private sector and further strengthening the capacity of contractors operating in the rural areas who provide cost effective, labour intensive skills and resources enhancing the future sustainability of the rural infrastructure system and institutional strengthening of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) and its wide network at local levels with a greater orientation towards community participation.

·    The study also recommends greater selection choosing investments in keeping with priority needs and much greater emphasis on building and funding a sustainable maintenance system.

Growth center developed under a RD project

Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) of Bangladesh

In PRSP prepared by the Government, the following issues, inter-alia, have been highlighted about infrastructure development: 

• The role of rural infrastructure is significant in Bangladesh and infrastructure development contributes, both directly and indirectly, to poverty reduction.

• There are many components of rural infrastructure of which three important elements are roads, markets and electrification.

• Several problems impose a tremendous burden on road maintenance and reduce the quality of services. The neglect of proper engineering design and implementation quality during construction, inadequate drainage structures and large number of gaps due to absence of brides and culvert generate poor quality service, high burden of maintenance and less impact of infrastructure development. Rather than expanding the network, the Government would improve the quality of rural roads e.g. emphasize quality construction using labour-based technologies, maintain and upgrade the existing network and undertake selective expansion to fill critical gaps to ensure rural-urban linkages. For the purpose, emphasis would be given to developing growth centres (including market structures, storage, communication and information services) and growth centre connecting roads with upazila headquarters and nearest all weather roads, developing rural roads which connect villages with growth centres and feeder rods and providing drainage structures (e.g. bridges and culvert) on rural roads.

Source: http://www.lged.gov.bd/