Dr. Peeranan Towashiraporn, Director at ADPC, welcoming participants to the workshop.

Over 20 government officials and engineers participated in ADPC’s Stakeholder Consultation Workshop to understand climate change impacts, assess gaps in Bangladesh’s rural transport sector and discuss current road standards.

The workshop was organized together with the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED). ADPC, through its Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CARE) for South Asia project, is working with the LGED in Bangladesh to develop and strengthen evidence-based resilient policies, strategies and actions for the rural road sector.

Currently, the team has been working on the hazard, vulnerability, risk and criticality assessment (HVRCA) framework using data provided by LGED and is also assessing the gaps in road design standards in terms of climate change and its impacts.

Dr. Peeranan Towashiraporn, Director at ADPC, shared in his opening remarks that the transport sector in Bangladesh is showing steady and substantial progress and thanked all LGED officials for their ongoing support.

Chief Guest Mr. Sk. Md. Mohsin, Chief Engineer at LGED, expressed his support in partnering with ADPC to address the impacts of climate change by enhancing the resilience of rural roads. He also mentioned that he looks forward to receiving recommendations to fulfill the gaps in the existing standards to make the rural road sector resilient in Bangladesh.

Participants also heard from sector specialists about the CARE for South Asia project’s work in Bangladesh’s road sector, a deep dive analysis into the climate resiliency status of its rural roads, approach & methodology for HRVCA for road sectors and gap assessments in road design standards.

ADPC sector specialists included Mr. Md. Nurul Alam, Transport Sector Lead, Ms. Sk. Naureen Laila, Resilient Transport Specialist, Mr. Anish Joshi, GIS Expert and Dr. Milad Zamanifar, Regional Resilient Transport Specialist.

Dr. Milad Zamanifar, Regional Resilient Transport Specialist at ADPC, presenting on design standards in Bangladesh.

During an open discussion, LGED officials suggested that ADPC visit climate hotspot areas in the country to examine how roads are damaged by flooding and other climate-related hazards. Participants discussed that access to climate and disaster-related data is a significant challenge when making climate risk-informed plans, designs and construction of road infrastructure.

ADPC and LGED examining climate change impact on Bangladeshi roads a few days after the workshop.

ADPC is in continuous communication and interaction with LGED’s Technical Working Group (TWG) members chaired by the Director of Climate Resilient Local Infrastructure Center (CReLIC). Moving forward, the TWG will review the deliverables/outputs and will provide necessary guidance for various activities that will contribute to enhancing the climate resilience of LGED roads and bridges.

The workshop was organized under the CARE for South Asia project supported by the World Bank.