Tk 500b needed to give ruined rivers a new lease of life

Water experts estimate that Tk 500 billion will be needed to give the country's ruined rivers a new lease of life.
Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) has already taken a move, as part of a giant dredging project, to let water flow again in the rivers which are becoming dried up as well as losing their capacity to hold water during the dry season.
As a step of dredging all the country's rivers a pilot project is already going on.
WDB project director of the pilot capital project Eng AKM Moazzam Hossain said the Tk 10 billion pilot capital dredging project was started in 2010 at the hard point of the Jamuna River near Sirajganj.
He said the project was aimed for collecting pilot data for use in dredging all the rivers of the country.
Mr Hossain said under the pilot project capital dredging has already been done in 22 kilometres and maintenance dredging completed in 16 kilometres.
He said the experimental dredging data would be available soon to the authority. The government would then form a new budget for large-scale dredging across the country.
A BWDB official said maintenance dredging for another 5 kilometres would start soon and after its completion by end of 2014, the pilot data would be ready for use.
BWDB sources said all the rivers of the country were getting silted up and losing their water holding capacity.
Sources said the rivers were losing their navigability and water was becoming stagnant at many points across the country due to the adverse effects of Farakka barrage and absence of proper maintenance dredging.
An expert working for international maritime organisation said it is urgent for Bangladesh to dredge the rivers as many of these have lost their navigability.
He said: "Capital dredging for new channels is also urgent. Maintenance dredging is needed round the year. Otherwise there will be heavy flooding in the country during rainy season. In the dry season there will be severe drought."
The pilot capital project director said after getting the pilot data the government may need at least Tk 500 billion for dredging the country's rivers.
He said the BWDB had reclaimed 8 kilometres of land at the Sirajganj hard point, which is under the government now.
Another official in the BWDB said the pilot data so far available from both capital and maintenance dredging is satisfactory. The full data, to be available at the end of the current year, would help the government use money for perfect dredging, he added.
BWDB chief engineer Jati Das Kundu said schemes are already in hands of the government to save the rivers.
Though the pilot capital dredging project took much time but the data would be helpful for the government, he added.