Apart from having a safe and comfortable accommodation at Bhasanchar (floating island), the Rohingya refugees will have an opportunity to engage themselves in income-generating activities.
"This will be a really good thing for them. In Bhasanchar project, we've seen a lot of income-generating opportunities" said Prof Delwar Hossain of international relations department at Dhaka University.
"This is for sure that repatriating one million refugees in Bangladesh is a far cry. So, we should opt for alternatives to address this challenge."
"Bhasanchar project is an answer to it," Prof Hossain told the FE.
This area is a wonderful grassland for cattle like buffalo, sheep, cow and goat.
"When we first stepped into the area in 2017, we found hundreds of buffaloes grazing here," Prof Hossain recalled.
People of nearby places like Subarnachar and Jalilchar owned these cattle, Cdre Abdullah Mamun Chowdhury, director of the Bhasanchar project, told the FE.
They still use this island for cattle-rearing. Hundreds of buffaloes and sheep were found grazing in green fields as the FE visited the project site.
According to Cdre Mamun, the number of the buffaloes is more than 6,000.
The authorities envisage a number of dairy plants and milk-processing factories and other allied industries on the island.
Recently, a delegation of top entrepreneurs visited this place to explore potential with an eye to establishing factories here, officials said.
Besides, there will be small cottage industries based on garment and handicraft where members of the Rohingya community will get involved, another official informed.
Some marketplaces have also been built inside the project area where settlers will buy and sell products.
Jamal Uddin Gazi is one of the contractors who has built a market complex there.
"Even in mainland Noakhali, you won't find such a market building that incorporates washroom, storage system and round-the-clock water and power supply."
There are three lakes inside the project area for involving the refugees in fishing.
Each lake has minimum 10-feet depth and they will be an alternative source of drinking water in case of any calamities, said Mr Gazi who hailed from Subarnachar.
"We have also a plan to start agricultural activities as this island has enough land around the project area," mentioned Cdre Mamun.
On an experimental basis, a pilot project for goat and sheep farming has already been initiated in the area.
Sociologist Prof Sadeka Halim of Dhaka University also visited the Bhasanchar island project recently.
This place is, no doubt, far better than Cox's Bazar refugee camps where the Rohingya are living in a slum-like cramped condition.
Once implemented, Prof Halim feels, the livelihood projects, planned by the authorities, can be a confidence booster for refugees.
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