Dykes at 17 islands to be built higher

The government will start work on raising the height of coastal embankments alongside their other improvement at 17 islands in the country's six south-western districts in July to protect the islanders from natural disasters.

In the first phase 17 small and medium islands (polders) have been selected. The height of the embankments covering around 10,000 hectares of land will be raised with financial support to the tune of Tk 32 billion (3,200 crore) from the World Bank (WB).

The selected polders are located in Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Pirojpur, Barguna and Patuakhali. They are under the threat of getting damaged amid the gradual erosion of them due to cyclones, climate change effects, high water salinity and silt deposits.

An official of the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) said the height of the embankments would be raised up to 6 metres under an improvement project to save lives, crops and properties of the islanders from any tidal surge and intrusion of saline water.

He said the government already built embankments 3 metres high on around 1.2 hectares of land in 139 polders (small and medium islands).

After the devastating cyclones Aila and Sidr the WB showed interest to fund the embankment improvement projects and already sanctioned $ 400 million, he  added.

Coastal Embankment Improvement Project Phase-1 (CEIP-1) Director Md Sarafat Hossain Khan said "We have developed a methodology for designing polder improvement to protect the existing small islands from water surges and solve the drainage problem in the islands."

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