PAD - LGED

(iv) GCMs improvement component
26. The methodology described below aims to present the main criteria to prioritize the 50
GCMs to be improved under the project. There are a total of 2,100 designated GCMs in
Bangladesh, about 950 in the 26 project districts.
27. Three sources of information on GCMs in the project area were collected:
• The existing, but incomplete, GCM inventory held by LGED;
• Priorities for GCM improvement identified by the LGED districts and upazilas as part of
the Inception Workshop process; and
• Additional base-data on market status and conditions collected through the LGED district
offices, first in writing and then through personal contacts to clarify any queries and to
fill gaps in the data.
28. The first step of the process was to prepare an inventory of GCMs in the project area.
This was analyzed with the aim of generating a long-list of possibilities by applying the
following three exclusion criteria:
• GCMs should not have already been improved under another LGED project;
• GCMS market areas by an adjacent should not have a significant risk of erosion – as
noted above, many markets are located on the banks of rivers; and
• GCMs should not be any current problems with availability of sufficient land for the
market, and no disputes over government ownership of the market land.
29. Of the 950 GCMs in the project area, no information was provided for 64, therefore only
886 were analyzed in detail. A total of 651 GCMs have been either comprehensively developed
in accordance with the LGED planning and design manual, or have been ‘partially developed’
and require further investment to improve market facilities according to district data.
30. 109 undeveloped GCMs candidates for improvement under RTIP-II remained after
eliminating those markets with erosion problems or land issues. The procedure used to reduce
the long-list of 109 to the final list of 50 RTIP-II market schemes is as follows:
• GCMs were selected to ensure a reasonable distribution of market schemes among the
project districts.
• The long-list of 109 markets was correlated with the priorities defined by the districts in
the pro-formas that they prepared for the Inception Workshop.
• Markets which are on the long-list and are also identified as high priorities by the districts
on their pro-formas have been selected.
31. After applying the above criteria, 50 candidate GCMs were identified. These 50 GCMs
satisfy the project selection criteria taking into account the basis of local knowledge and
experience of the district staff and their “on the ground” understanding of needs and priorities.
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