Bangladesh is a country dependent on agriculture. The water resources sector in the country has been making considerable contribution to agriculture through implementation of projects in areas of irrigation, flood control, drainage, prevention of river erosion and environmental conservation projects. Since its inception, one of the foremost projects identified by the Water Development Board for proper water management in the country has been the Ganges Barrage Project.
The flow of the river Ganges (known as Padma in Bangladesh part) decreased in the downstream areas of the lower riparian country ever since the commissioning of the Farakka Barrage by India in the mid-1970s. As a result, it had a negative impact on the agriculture, fisheries, forestry, navigation and environment of south-western Bangladesh. For overcoming this impact, the need for a Ganges (Padma) Barrage in Bangladesh part is being most acutely felt now. A number of feasibility studies for this proposed barrage were conducted in Bangladesh over the past five decades. The latest study was finalised and submitted to the government in 2012.
The findings of this study carried out through a multidimensional analysis show that the project is very much viable and implementable when considered in terms of economic, technical, social and environmental criteria. Around Taka 320 billion would be needed to implement the project and the cost can be recouped within five years. Delay in implementing this much-trumpeted project would only lead to cost escalation as well as exacerbation of the negative impacts of Farakka Barrage (Md Nure Helal, paper presented at the 19th Biennial Conference of the Bangladesh Economic Association, January 2015).
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has repeatedly shown interest in implementation of the project preferably in Rajbari district by naming it as the 'Padma Barrage'. She has also instructed the concerned officials to take up the matter with India and seek the neighbour's cooperation and support for implementation of the project.
Bangladesh is situated on a delta carved by the rivers Ganges (Padma), Brahmaputra and Meghna. The south-western region of the country comprising 37 per cent of its land area is dependent on the river Padma. The total length of the river Ganges is 46,000 kilometres, of which 240 kilometres fall inside Bangladesh. After emerging from the Himalayas, the river enters Bangladesh through Jangipur of Rajshahi district and ultimately lands in the Bay of Bengal. The areas dependent on the waters of the Ganges in Bangladesh total around 46,000 square kilometres.
Due to the commissioning of the Farakka Barrage by India in the mid-1970s, the flow of the Padma decreased drastically and agriculture, fisheries, forestry, navigation and household usages of water were seriously hampered. Expansion of industries was obstructed and the Sundarbans - the largest mangrove forest in the world - is facing unprecedented threat due to decrease in the flow of river water and increase in salinity.
The condition of the river Gorai - a tributary of the Padma as well as its distributaries named Kumar, Kalindi, Dakua etc. also underwent terrible deterioration in recent years. There is, therefore, an urgent need for constructing a barrage on the river Padma for integrated river-water management in the greater districts of Rajshahi, Pabna, Kushtia, Jessore, Khulna, Faridpur and Barisal in order to facilitate economic growth and poverty alleviation in the south-western region.
The feasibility studies conducted for the project identified a few probable places between the Hardinge Bridge and the confluence of the Padma-Jamuna for constructing the barrage. A pre-feasibility study was conducted by WARPO in the earlier part of the decade of 2000 for determining the available options. By analysing river morphology through that study, two probable sites were fixed at Thakurbari of Kushtia district and Pangsha of Rajbari. The latest feasibility study recommended Pangsha of Rajbari as the site of the barrage (Md. Nure Helal, BEA, 2015).
An agreement was signed by the Water Development Board and DDC Ltd. for carrying out a feasibility study and detailed design for the Ganges Barrage project in May 2009. Later, they were also assigned the task of preparing land acquisition and resettlement action plans. The consultant submitted the final feasibility study in September 2012. At present, the detailed design as well as land acquisition and resettlement action plans awaiting approval. A project proposal titled 'Ganges Barrage Project' has already been submitted to the Planning Commission via the Ministry of Water Resources by the Water Development Board. A primary development project proposal (PDPP) has also been submitted to the Economic Relations Division of the Ministry of Finance for exploring external collaborations.
The main objectives of the Barrage are:
l Providing irrigation to 4.69 million hectares (net 2.88 million hectares) in the catchment areas of 26 districts in the regions of Kushtia, Faridpur, Jessore, Khulna, Barisal, Pabna and Rajshahi.
l Taking measures for best utilisation of water received by Bangladesh under the terms of the Ganges Water-sharing Treaty signed with India in 1996.
l Socio-economic development of Bangladesh through expansion of livelihood opportunities and improvement of living standard for one-third of the country's population living in the catchment areas of the Ganges and its tributaries.
l Increasing the flow and navigability of the Ganges-dependent rivers and ensuring environmental balance.
l Installing power and gas lines over the Ganges Barrage.
l Construction of important projects in the Ganges-dependent areas and reduction of their maintenance expenditure.
l Safeguarding the forestry resources and bio-diversity of the Sundarbans.
l Conservation and expansion of marine fisheries.
l Reducing widespread water-logging problem of polders in the coastal region.
l Reducing arsenic contamination and salinity of underground water.
l Building a direct and fast communication cum transport system between the northern and south-western regions of the country.
The project-related activities would encompass 164 upazilas in 26 districts of four divisions. The districts are Bagerhat, Chuadanga, Jessore, Jhenidah, Khulna, Kushtia, Magura, Meherpur, Narail, Satkhira, Faridpur, Gopalganj, Madaripur, Rajbari, Shariatpur, Naogaon, Natore, Nawabganj, Pabna, Rajbari, Barguna, Bhola, Jhalkathi, Patuakhali and Pirojpur.
FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Financial and economic analysis of the proposed Padma (Ganges) Barrage project shows that the rate of return is highly positive. The net present value of the project would be Taka 80.42 billion in economic terms and Taka 51.21 billion based on financial criteria. A cost-benefit analysis yields the ratios of 1:1.53, and 1:1.261 in economic and financial terms respectively. The average crop intensity in the project area would rise by 10 per cent to reach 204 per cent from the current 194 per cent.
SITE SELECTION: Many studies were conducted in the past for constructing a barrage on the Padma River for ensuring adequate water-flow in the rivers of the country's south-western region. These studies were conducted in 1961, 1963, 1969, 1983 and 2001.
The consulting firm 'Tibbett, Abbott, McCarthy, Stratton' (TAMS) of New York, the USA was the first to recommend construction of the barrage 3 kilometres downstream from the point of origin of the Gorai river in 1963.
But the project could not be implemented then due to political tension between the Pakistani and the Indian governments. After independence, the site of the project was prescribed at 4 kilometres downstream of Hardinge Bridge (Pakshi railway bridge). But because of the black water effect in the downstream up to the Indian border, the proposed site was later shifted to a point near Habashpur in Rajbari district.
The writer is a senior civil servant and former editor of Bangladesh Quarterly.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
