Effect of Infrastructure Development on Income Generation: A Study on Jamuna Bridge Project in Bangladesh (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Infrastructure development which is critical for the economic development of any country provides the easier and quicker access of the poor people to the market mechanism. Studies show that infrastructure investments complemented by policy and institutional reforms enable markets to develop and function efficiently, thereby mainstreaming the poor. Infrastructure development contributes both directly and indirectly, to poverty reduction having access to more income generating activities (1). Since the infrastructure investment has been done mainly by the government and in some cases under government-private sector collaboration, this sort of investment can be broadly termed as public capital investment. This public capital investment encompasses the investment in highways, water, sewerage system, bridge construction and other forms of public capital. Private sectors are gradually coming forward to invest for infrastructure investment and since 1990, more than 120 developing countries have invited the private sector to participate in the provision of private infrastructure services (2). Designing infrastructure to deliver services to poor people is a key measure to eradicate poverty (3). Therefore, public capital investment is used to play a significant role in the market mechanism in various ways which ultimately encourage the poor people to participate actively in the income generating activities.