Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina this month will open a refugee housing complex on a flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal, with officials saying it is ready to accommodate 25,000 Rohingya from Myanmar who are sheltering in southeastern Bangladesh.
The government says it plans to relocate on a voluntary basis 100,000 Rohingya from refugee camps and settlements in the southeast to the tiny, barren and unpopulated Bashan Char island. Dhaka is spending U.S. $276 million in the two-year project to build housing and infrastructure there, as well as a retaining wall to protect the isle from flooding.
“The Bhashan Char project is ready for the relocation of Rohingya. The honorable prime minister is set to see the site sometime in October, and she will give us formal permission to start relocation,” Habibul Kabir Chowdhury, a joint secretary with the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service, on Friday.
Read the full story: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/project-10122018175508.html
