An International meet has reinforced the significance of resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) as an important factor in sustainable and inclusive infrastructure development.

The experiences over the past several years open the way towards placing increasing emphasis on sound resettlement planning, effective implementation of the plans, as well as the centrality of people’s participation in the entire process, the conference on resettlement, rehabilitation and benefit sharing in infrastructure projects said.

The conference, hosted by the Administrative Staff College of India, saw delegates from 20 countries, including Australia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Kenya, Turkey, Pakistan, Norway, UK and Uganda.

Several case studies showed how a good resettlement plan implemented efficiently could negate the higher financial cost by the boon generated through the goodwill of such policies and acceptance by displaced people. This ultimately lowers the social, political and financial costs of such projects.

The economic benefits of infrastructure development are well established. However, progress on the infrastructural front, especially in the South Asian region, has been greatly hampered by delays caused largely by conflicts and protests by the affected people.

This in turn has an adverse impact on the global economy as a whole. The past decade has witnessed initiatives at the policy and operational front in various countries to better address this challenge. From a sustainable development perspective, the benefit-sharing mechanisms piloted in some countries, offer a significant learning for adaptation/replication, a release on the conference proceedings, said.

While issues relating to land acquisition, R&R are universal, there is little experience sharing across countries. somasekhar.m@thehindu.co.in

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW