Decades of wait is all but over now as the government on Wednesday adopted the multipurpose Padma Barrage project meant to mitigate water-scarcity impacts in vast areas and facilitate irrigation, pisciculture and hydropower generation, officials say.
The 65-year-long-stalled water-management infrastructure's first phase with an estimated cost of Tk 334.74 billion was endorsed at the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) meeting Wednesday.
The official concept for a barrage over the mighty river was first initiated 65 years ago in 1961. The initial feasibility study was launched during the Pakistan era by the East Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority.
After Bangladesh's independence, the government formalised state-level steps nearly 25 years ago in 2000-2002 under the then Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) administration, which included selecting structural sites through the Water Resources Planning Organisation (WARPO).
Over the decades, different administrations had failed to approve or completely shelved the project three distinct times, even after the completion of detailed feasibility studies, structural designs, and draft development project proposal (DPP).
Just months before final approval, the last Professor Yunus-led interim government aggressively advanced an updated Tk 504.44 billion DPP layout to the Planning Commission and was scheduled to be placed at ECNEC meeting on January 25, 2026.
However, Planning Adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud withdrew the proposal at the final minute, stating that an unelected interim authority should not rush the approval of a massively expensive, multi-decade macro-infrastructure project without long-term parliamentary oversight, sources say.
Monday's ECNEC meeting, held at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Tarique Rahman presiding, also approved eight other projects along with the barrage with an aggregate cost of Tk 366.96 billion.
Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) will implement the megaproject from July 2026 to June 2033 with cent-percent state funding.
The main installation will feature a 2.1-kilometre barrage located in Pangshaupazila of Rajbari district, equipped with 78 spillways, 18 under-sluices, and a 113-megawatt integrated hydropower facility.
Government data and water experts indicate the strategic infrastructure will bring deep transformations across 26 districts in the southwest and northwest regions as the barrage will store up to 2,900 million cubic metres of water during the monsoon to sustain downstream flows in the lean season. It will supply a minimum dry-season flow of 570 cubic metre per second (cusec), revive five dying river systems: the Gorai-Madhumati, Ichamati, Baral, Hisna-Mathabhanga, and Chandana-Barashia.
"Sustained freshwater flow will actively push back the severe saltwater intrusion creeping from the Bay of Bengal, protecting the delicate ecosystem of the Sundarbans," says one official about merits of the multipurpose barrage scheme.
The preserved water network will supply irrigation to 2.9 million hectares of arable land, projected to boost annual rice output by 2.4 million tonnes and fish production by 234,000 tonnes. And the project will integrate clean energy into the national grid via a 113MW hydro-station.
The Planning Commission projects the venture to yield an annual socioeconomic benefit of approximately Tk 80 billion upon completion.
The ECNEC-approved other projects are Chittagong city outer ring road (4th Revised) costing Tk 8.97 billion, Dhanua-to-Mymensingh Gas Pipeline Construction (1st Revised) Tk 14.67 billion, Soldiers' Barrack Complexes at Savar Cantonment Tk 1.49 billion, Mother and Child Welfare Centres Upgradation at Tk 5.57 billion, Ghorashal Urban Infrastructure Project Tk 699.5 million, Land Acquisition for Jessore Export Processing Zone (1st Revised) at Tk 421.1 million, Expansion of National Institute of Neurosciences at Tk 301.2 million and the Upgradation of National Academy for Autism at Tk 93.6 million.