Bangladesh Development And Redevelopment

With three-fourths of Bangladesh under water, some aid donors said Wednesday that it is time for long-term solutions in an impoverished land that becomes a vast flood plain every monsoon season. "We have started thinking about the focus of our development aid," a diplomat from one industrial nation said privately. "It doesn't really make sense to pour millions into this country every year and see it washed away." Floods began in June with the annual monsoon season.

With three-fourths of Bangladesh under water, some aid donors said Wednesday that it is time for long-term solutions in an impoverished land that becomes a vast flood plain every monsoon season. "We have started thinking about the focus of our development aid," a diplomat from one industrial nation said privately. "It doesn't really make sense to pour millions into this country every year and see it washed away." Floods began in June with the annual monsoon season.

Impoverished Bangladesh, once described by Henry Kissinger as an international basket case, has rapidly expanded its textile exports over the past few years, only to draw protests from the United States, its major market. In talks with U.S.

Tota Bibi stood triumphantly in the doorway of her new home. Like most village houses in Bangladesh, it had a mud floor. But its walls were much more substantial--planks of wood instead of woven reeds, reinforced concrete pillars instead of bamboo poles. And the crowning glory, the joy of Tota Bibi and the pride of this tiny village in one of the poorest countries in the world, was the roof--corrugated metal that the rains could never penetrate and the winds could never move.

Tota Bibi stood triumphantly in the doorway of her new home. Like most village houses in Bangladesh, it had a mud floor. But its walls were much more substantial--planks of wood instead of woven reeds, reinforced concrete pillars instead of bamboo poles. And the crowning glory, the joy of Tota Bibi and the pride of this tiny village in one of the poorest countries in the world, was the roof--corrugated metal that the rains could never penetrate and the winds could never move.

Impoverished Bangladesh, once described by Henry Kissinger as an international basket case, has rapidly expanded its textile exports over the past few years, only to draw protests from the United States, its major market. In talks with U.S.