CHITTAGONG, Mar 11: The re-excavation of at least 16 canals in the port city will start immediately to remove waterlogging.
This was decided in the first meeting of the Project Monitoring Committee of the Chittagong City Waterlogging Mitigation Project today.
President of the Project Monitoring Committee (PMC) and Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain laid emphasis on launching the work as early as possible as the monsoon season is less than three months away.
He said re-excavation of some 16 canals should be undertaken in the current season. Re-excavation, alongside construction of retaining walls, must be in line with the design prepared by the consultant, he said.
Earlier, the project director of the Waterlogging Mitigation Project of Chittagong city Engineer Ahmed Moinuddin gave a detailed description of the project, especially highlighting the features of the proposed development centering the two major canals - Chaktai Khal and Mohesh Khal.
Member Secretary of the PMC and Chairman of Chittagong Development Authority Abdus Salam, Director General of Bangladesh Army 34 Engineer Construction Brigade Brigadier General Rezaul Majid, Secretary of Housing and Public Works Ministry Md Shahid Ullah Khondakar, Managing Director of Chittagong WASA Engineer AKM Fazlullah, Chittagong Port Authority Board Member (Administration and Planning) Zafar Alam, Chittagong City Corporation Chief Engineer Lt Col Mohiuddin Ahmed, Chief Engineer of Chittagong Power Development Board (distribution) Prabir Kumar Sen, Chief Engineer of Water Development Board AKM Shamsul Karim, Additional Police Commissioner Masud Ul Hasan, Managing Director of Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Co Ali Md Al Mamun, Chief Hydrographer of the Chittagong Port Authority Commander Arifur Rahman, CDA Board Members Hasan Murad Biplab, KBM Shahjahan and Md Jashim Uddin and CDA Chief City Planner Md Shahinul Islam Khan were present, among others.
Seeking cooperation from all quarters for implementation of the project, the CDA Chairman said initially they will remove silt from the canal-beds of 16 canals before the next rainy season.
Once the project is implemented the citizens of the port city will be free from the curses of flood, waterlogging and road dilapidation caused by heavy showers and onrush of hill water that halt the civic life for weeks together in the rainy season, he said.
He said the project worth Tk 56.16499 billion will be implemented with the fund from the government. It was approved by the ECNEC at its meeting on August 09, 2017.
The Technical Committee of the project headed by Major General Md Siddiqur Rahman Sarkar, Engineer in Chief, Bangladesh Army, made a number of recommendations while submitting its report on the proceedings of the committee meeting held on 12 December, 2017 at 24 Engineer Construction Brigade Headquarter in Dhaka Cantonment.
The committee recommended that 57 canals instead of 36 could be included. Otherwise the expected result of the project could not be achieved because the sediments settled at the bottom of all the canals must be removed. The technical committee suggested inclusion of work in the additional 21 canals in the DPP and sanction necessary fund for the same.
The committee recommended that the length of the canal-side road construction be fixed at 85.68 meters for protection of width of the canals.
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