Cross dams to reclaim land from sea: Muhith

The government will take measures to reclaim land from sea by constructing cross dams to check salinity intrusion in the coastal region. “Steps will be taken to reclaim land from sea by constructing Swandip-Urirchar-Noakhali cross dam, infrastructure and circular dams around Char Alexander and Char Mainka, and Char Islam-Char Montaj cross dam to prevent intrusion of saline water,” the Finance Minister said in his budget speech in Parliament on Thursday. AMA Muhith said the government will also build cross dam in the coastal areas to reclaim 20,000 hectares of land. “We have a plan to preserve and maintain nearly 52 km of river banks by fiscal 2015-16 to protect our valuable lands, border outposts and important infrastructures from river erosion.” He said the government will free 1.63 lakh hectares of land from flood, excavate 192 km and re-excavate 2,111 km of irrigation canals, construct 1,209 km of embankment, repair and maintain over 15,358 km of embankment, construct and repair over 4,540 flood control structures, and preserve, repair and maintain 1,443 km of embankment. Capital dredging will be carried out in the major rivers like the Ganga-Padma, the Brahmaputra-Jamuna and the Meghna, the Finance Minister said adding that regular dredging will continue in the Buriganga, the Turag, the Pungli and the Dhaleshwari rivers, according to UNB.