Mohirul Islam Mohir^1,, Kazi Mostafa Arif²

The aim of this study is to find out the suitability of bridge for a poverty driven rural area in Bangladesh in the context of social and economic aspects. The study employed Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) approach to capture social benefit and also applied Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR), Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) assessing economic aspect. From PRA appaisal it is known that people of the Bridge areas strongly supported construction of Bridge as they perceived that the Bridge has a positive impact on socio-economic condition by changing existing communication system through construction of the proposed bridge. From the Economic Analysis, it is found that the BCR is 1.91, NPV is Tk. 17,645 Lakh and IRR is 31% which thus indicate positive returns of this proposed project. In addition, by construction of the proposed 1490m long bridge over the Teesta river, the travel distance from Chilmari Upazila of Kurigram District to Dhaka would be reduced by about 160 km. The Bridge has a social acceptance and hence it would enhance better communication that would result better economy of study area as well as the nation.

Focus Group Discussion (FGD), Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR), Net Present Value (NPV) and Economic Internal Rate of Return (EIRR)