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PM seeks full river plan

Says dredging to start with Gorai; project must not cross 15 years

UNB, Dhaka
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday directed the authorities concerned to immediately formulate a complete action plan for dredging the country’s rivers, which have mostly silted up.
The PM made the directive while chairing j the maiden meeting of the recently formed high-powered committee on river dredging and water resource management at the PM's
Office.
She also told the meeting that the proposed long term river dredging project should not be of more than 15 years as "rivers must be given back their navigability immediately."
PM's Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad briefed newsmen after the meeting.
Hasina said, the massive river dredging project should be started through reexcavating Gorai River since its process had
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advanced much during the previous A warn! league government's rule with foreign development partners' finances.
She regretted that the subsequent BNP-Jamaat government stopped it and other dredging projects.
The premier further asked the authorities to deploy two fulltime dredgers at the estuar ies of the Kamaphuli connecting Chittagong seaport and Pashur River linking Mongla seaport to the Bay to keep the channels navigable round die year.
"Country's rivers will have to be kept navigable to protect die people from unusual floods, tidal surges and rive erosion," she said.
The PM said Dhalcswari, Kapatakkha, Turag, Balu and other rivers will also be dredged in phases. At the same time, maintenance dredging will have to be continued periodically.
Hasina lamented that most of die country's 310 rivers are dying and losing waterpreserving capacity for lack of dredging.
"Dredging was not continued regularly in Bangladesh after the Second World War, which resulted in the present polluted, silted condition of most of the rivers.''
She mentioned that the last AL government had planned the dredging of the rivers and started implementing several projects.
But the BNP-Jamaat government had stopped the projects "only on political considerations, which later compounded people's sufferings and caused waste of huge money," she said.
Hasina noted that the rivers are just like arteries of human body. "If we can save our rivers, our existence will be saved."
About the previously proposed 30-year-long project for river dredging, the PM said the scheme should not have over 15-year lifespan.
"We must have a total action plan immediately. There should not be any delay in this regard. Our rivers must be saved."
Hasina mentioned that she had meetings with the representatives of various donor countries and agencies at her office few months back regarding mobilising funds to launch die massive save the rivers project.
She also said she had talks with the World Bank officials when she was in the US during the last caretaker government's rule, about the necessity of dredging Bangladesh's rivers and need for the development partners' financial assistance in this regard.
"Our development partners are positive on providing assistance. But we need to chalk out the river dredging project very effectively," she said.
Hasina observed that increasing global warming caused global climate change, and countries like Bangladesh would be worst sufferer of the climate change caused natural disasters.
"We cannot sit idle. We will have to remain careful about the disastrous impacts of the climate change and take proper steps to save our people from the natural disasters," she said.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, Planning Minister AK Khandoker, land Minister Rezaul Karim Hira, Water Resources Minister Ramesh Chandra Sen, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan, PM's Advisers HT Imam and Mashiur Rahman and State Minister for Environment and Forests Hasan Mahmud and secretaries concerned attended the meeting.
PM's Principal Secretary MA Karim and Office Secretary Mollah Waheeduzaman were present.