NHD Project not implemented in 8yrs, 1 more year sought

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics has sought one more year to complete the National Household and Database Project though eight years have passed since the authority took up the scheme.

The project is the first in kind to register all marginalised people living under the poverty line.

The national database will facilitate beneficiary selection process for social safety net programmes of the government.

“To this end, BBS has sent a project proposal titled “National Household and Database (NHD) Project” (4th Revision) to the Planning Commission for an approval of one year more extension,” a senior official of the commission told The Business Post.

The cost of the project is estimated at Tk 727.35 crore. Of the amount, Tk 686.80 crore will come from the World Bank and Tk 40.54 crore from the government exchequer.

The Planning Commission will hold a project evaluation committee meeting soon for extending the project timeframe, added the official.

The project began in 2013 and was supposed to be completed by June 2021 after its third revision in collaboration with the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and the Department of Disaster Management.

The overall progress of the project is 90 per cent while its financial progress is 85.10 per cent.

A total of 213,264 enumerators and supervisors were engaged in collecting data across the country.

The BBS’s zonal statistical officers in every upazila and district coordinators are working on it.

The data collectors are collecting data in three phases from every thana and upazila across the country, according to sources.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between BBS and Department of Social Services on June 29 this year for sharing data.