The Ministry of Water Resources has proposed a project worth Tk 1,023 crore to reduce the damage caused by natural disasters in an area of 3,441 hectares in Shyamnagar Upazila of Satkhira.
If this project is implemented, the concerned people hope that better water management will be ensured in the area.
A meeting of the Project Evaluation Committee (PEC) will be held next Wednesday (March 24) on the project titled 'Rehabilitation of Polder No. 15 in Satkhira District'.
Ramendranath Biswas, Member (Secretary), Department of Agriculture, Water Resources and Rural Institutions, Planning Commission will preside over the function.
AKM Abul Kalam Azad, Deputy Chief of Physical Infrastructure Department, who signed the working paper, said that the total ceiling received from the Finance Department in favor of development projects in the current fiscal year 2020-21 is Tk 62.69 crore.
The total demand for various development projects received from the ministry so far is Tk 209.28 crore. The total gap is Tk 146.59 crore. The Ministry of Water Resources needs to explain how it will ensure financing of the proposed project by filling this gap.
Besides, the duration of the project can be fixed from March 2021 to June 2023.
The working paper of the PEC meeting further said that in case of projects costing Tk 50 crore or more, it is necessary to conduct a full feasibility study. But that was not done in the case of this project.
For this, feasibility study has to be done in coordination with the representatives of other organizations in the water resources sector or with other concerned agencies.
Besides, under the proposed project, a total of Tk 508.69 crore has been set aside for river bank protection work including rehabilitation of 7.82 km of dams.
The rationale for this work and the basis for the cost estimate can be explained at the meeting by the Ministry of Water Resources.
In this case it is necessary to estimate the expenditure on the basis of detailed design through hydrological and morphological study and bathymetric survey.
According to sources in the Ministry of Water Resources, the project was poldered in 1970 by constructing a coastal barrier to prevent salinity in the area, expansion of agricultural land and protection of the project area from salinity.
Climate change has significantly increased sea level, including storms and tidal surges. Filling of river canals is causing massive waterlogging.
As a result, coastal dams have been severely damaged and the effectiveness of poldering is almost completely abolished.
The polder is surrounded on three sides by the fast flowing Kholpetua and Kopotaksh rivers and on the south side by the Sundarbans.
Constant tidal surges, wind gusts and seasonal low pressure damage the polder's infrastructure.
The latest 2009 Aylar polder was severely damaged and three places were breached and other dams were weakened.
The main activities of the proposed project are: Acquisition of 81.12 hectares of land, Rehabilitation of 1.60 km of dams, Preservation of 21.81 km of embankments, 7.82 km of river bank protection works, Rehabilitation of five regulators and the drainage canal of 22.50 km will be re-excavated.
