Leaving aside their long-standing opposition, the UN agencies and their international development partners are expected to start humanitarian work at Bhasanchar from mid-September.
Foreign ministry high-ups told the FE that a deal between the government and the UN agencies would be signed to this end by next week.
Commenting on the issue, foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen says the UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies have agreed to start their operation at Bhasanchar.
Bangladesh clarified during its negotiations with the UN bodies that it would not allow any long-term settlement of the Rohingya in the country, he added.
"Our priority is repatriation of the Rohingya," Mr Momen mentioned.
The government has developed the island for sheltering at least 0.1 million of the 1.0-million Rohingya last year despite strong opposition from development partners.
The UN bodies and humanitarian agencies declined to provide their services in the island citing a string of reasons, including communication difficulties and adverse weather.
But despite opposition, the government started shifting the refugees from Cox's Bazar camps to the island from December 04 last year.
And till now, 18,521 refugees were shifted to the 13,000-acre land in eight phases.
Last June, the Human Rights Watch criticised the government move, saying that since infrastructure development started on Bhasanchar in 2017, humanitarian experts have been raising alarm about safety, pointing out that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to support refugees' humanitarian and protection needs on the island.
However, most of the apprehensions expressed by development partners were apparently out on a back-burner after the visit of a high-level UNHCR team in June.
UNHCR assistant high commissioners for orotection and for operations Gillian Triggs and Raouf Mazou after their visit to the island said, "UNHCR recognises the potential that Bhasanchar could provide as an alternative temporary location for some Rohingya refugees while in Bangladesh."
Mr Mazou said Bhasanchar camps were more comfortable than Cox's Bazar camps and he urged the international agencies to come forward to engage there.
"Bhasan Char has some potential, though the human and protection elements of refugees living there must be fully considered. Refugees who decide to relocate to Bhasan Char must do so on a voluntary basis. They should have freedom of movement on the island and must be granted the possibility to return to Cox's Bazar and to maintain family connections with those in the camps," said Mr Triggs.
The visit was followed by a series of negotiations between the two sides and finally the draft of the deal for the engagement was finalised recently, officials said.
mirmostafiz@yahoo.com