Asigning ceremony of three contracts, with a total value of over Tk 194 crore to construct 37 School-cum-Cyclone Shelters in Bhola and Patuakhali, was held on Wednesday in the offices of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) at IDB Bhaban in the city. The signatories to the contracts were Md. Wahidur Rahman, chief engineer, LGED, Mike Hughes, project director, IMC Worldwide Ltd and the chairman of the respective construction firms. The signed contracts represent the third phase of construction of the school-cum-cyclone shelters programme. They will bring the total number of shelters under construction to 109. The programme anticipates construction of a total number of 190 shelters (including 109 under construction). These shelters are planned to be constructed throughout the coastal belt, from Shyamnagar in Satkhira district in the west across to Cox's Bazar district in the southeast. It might be mentioned that a large-scale devastation was caused in the coastal belt of Bangladesh in the wake of Cyclone SIDR of 15 November 2007.