A water management plan is imperative
Monday, 30 June 2008
Bangladesh was described as a land floating on water by a foreign author. But the country is hardly harnessing its water resources to its advantages. It is an irony that for some months of the year, big parts of Bangladesh suffer from water scarcity when there is no need to suffer such a state. Floods of varying intensities and the destructions caused by the same remain a source of constant anxiety for the rest of the year. But these conditions are preventable and Bangladesh can turn the abundance of water it receives in the rainy season into a blessing for it round the year, provided that it adopts and implements an integrated and comprehensive water management plan. But there are no signs that such a plan is being readied let alone its implementation. This is an unacceptable situation considering the influence of proper water management in its economy.
While there is no water management plan on the one hand, the other side presents a spectacle of gross neglect in accountability and oversight activities in whatever water-management related works that are taken up every year involving spending from the national budget. Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) issued a report last week that highlighted large scale waste of public resources on water management. According to the TIB report, some 30 to 50 per cent of the allocated resources for flood embankment building, stopping of river erosion, dredging etc., are simply misused. The resources are misappropriated by some contractors and officials and actual works done to good effect, happen to be negligible. This focus on misuse and corruption in the sector shows up why it is all the more urgent to devise and implement a proper water management plan.
Apart from the rather fruitless works and waste of resources in the sector, the other big danger is unplanned activities. All over the country, unplanned building of roads through water bodies and whimsical construction of embankments and related activities, have led to creation of a dangerous situation for drainage. The indiscriminate and unplanned works are done without an eye for their impact on flooding or flood control and other issues of importance for the environment. Different agencies of the government unilaterally and, at will, take up such projects that have no need to conform to a countrywide master plan drawn up to guide such works so that the same do not create new problems. For these reasons also, an integrated and well coordinated water management plan is indispensable.
The water management plan should seek to immediately address the short-term problems such as corruption and waste and consequences of unregulated activities. But it must have medium-term objectives in view such as the building of big reservoirs in different parts of the country where flood water or rain waters can be conserved for use in the dry season for irrigation and other purposes. Under the master plan, regular dredging of the rivers must be ensured and adequate capacities to that end must be built up at the soonest through adequate provisioning in the national budget and receiving and utilising foreign aid. Diplomatically, Bangladesh has to take the lead and sustain the momentum towards creating and implementing a regional framework at an early date for regional water management.
While there is no water management plan on the one hand, the other side presents a spectacle of gross neglect in accountability and oversight activities in whatever water-management related works that are taken up every year involving spending from the national budget. Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) issued a report last week that highlighted large scale waste of public resources on water management. According to the TIB report, some 30 to 50 per cent of the allocated resources for flood embankment building, stopping of river erosion, dredging etc., are simply misused. The resources are misappropriated by some contractors and officials and actual works done to good effect, happen to be negligible. This focus on misuse and corruption in the sector shows up why it is all the more urgent to devise and implement a proper water management plan.
Apart from the rather fruitless works and waste of resources in the sector, the other big danger is unplanned activities. All over the country, unplanned building of roads through water bodies and whimsical construction of embankments and related activities, have led to creation of a dangerous situation for drainage. The indiscriminate and unplanned works are done without an eye for their impact on flooding or flood control and other issues of importance for the environment. Different agencies of the government unilaterally and, at will, take up such projects that have no need to conform to a countrywide master plan drawn up to guide such works so that the same do not create new problems. For these reasons also, an integrated and well coordinated water management plan is indispensable.
The water management plan should seek to immediately address the short-term problems such as corruption and waste and consequences of unregulated activities. But it must have medium-term objectives in view such as the building of big reservoirs in different parts of the country where flood water or rain waters can be conserved for use in the dry season for irrigation and other purposes. Under the master plan, regular dredging of the rivers must be ensured and adequate capacities to that end must be built up at the soonest through adequate provisioning in the national budget and receiving and utilising foreign aid. Diplomatically, Bangladesh has to take the lead and sustain the momentum towards creating and implementing a regional framework at an early date for regional water management.