The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

The government has decided to form a Board of Trustee soon to look after the utilization of the climate change fund of Tk 300 crore allocated in the budget and the upcoming funds from donors. The decision was taken at a high-powered meeting at the Finance Ministry yesterday, with Finance and Planning Adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam in the chair.

"The main focus of the fund will be to take adaptation measures," Dr Aziz told reporters after the meeting.

The trustee board would be formed with high officials from the ministries concerned - Food and Disaster, Public Works, and Forest and Environment.

Food and Disaster Management Adviser AMM Shawkat Ali, Forest and Environment Adviser Raja Debashish Roy and senior officials concerned were present at the first inter-ministerial meeting on the issue.

The Finance Adviser said the meeting had decided to keep 66 percent of the fund for spending when necessary, while the remaining 34 percent would be separated as a rolling fund and deposited with a bank to meet emergency needs in the future.

Replying to a question, he said the government has been assured of foreign assistance to fight the climate change, but the assurance has not yet taken a concrete shape. The government will also welcome funds from the bilateral donors.

Dr Aziz said the trustee board would also look after the utilization of the foreign funds, while the government would ensure that the foreign funds through NGOs do not overlap activities in this regard.

He told a questioner that the government is now working on the scientific issues of the climate change to raise in the climate change meeting to be held in London in September this year that would focus on Bangladesh.

The meeting also decided to increase, if necessary, the allocation for the disaster management, he said.

On the alarming price situation, Dr Aziz said: "None can say when the price will come down. It depends on many factors."

He alleged that the media had published or broadcast partially his view about the possibility of declining prices as he told the press few days back that "it's unrealistic to expect that the prices will come down."

Replying to another question, the Finance Adviser said the Ministry of Communication was examining the transport fare while the fuel price here is still much lower than the international price.

"Unless we raised the (fuel) prices we would have to give a subsidy of around Tk 17,000 crore," he said. After raising the price, the national exchequer will have to pay Tk 10,000 crore as subsidy.