Posted on May 23, 2022
Immediate dredging of the elevated mudbanks of the Surma and Kushiyara rivers has been included as a priority task in the Bangladesh Delta Plan (BDP 2100), with the government taking into notice the higher magnitude of pre-monsoon floods in the northeast and the Haor belt.
Sylhet has been experiencing the worst pre-monsoon flood in 18 years. The embankment built in 2004 at the confluence of Barak-Surma-Kushiyara collapsed on Thursday, washing away vast swaths of cropland, and damaging homesteads, and other vital infrastructure.
The current spate of the rain-fed deluge has challenged the water-flowing capacities of the Surma and Kushiyara. The rivers that originate from India’s Barak and ultimately flow down to constitute one of Bangladesh’s three main river systems – the Meghna. The Meghna later meets the Padma and empties into the Bay of Bengal.
The issue of river dredging as a priority task was prominently discussed in yesterday’s meeting of the Delta Governing Council, the highest body to oversee the country’s most far-visioned plan ever – the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 (BDP 2100).
It says the conveyance capacity of the flashy rivers – the Surma and the Kushiyara – must be increased through strategic maintenance, dredging, and re-excavation. Conveyance capacity means the water flow-carrying capacity of a river.
Flashy rivers are rivers that flood and recede very suddenly. A defining characteristic of this type of river is that the flood hydrograph is very steep.
State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Md Enamur Rahman acknowledged that the build-up of silt and elevation of the riverbeds of the Surma and the Kushiyara are key reasons, along with high-intensity upper catchment rainfalls (in northeast India), for the current spate of high magnitude pre-monsoon floods in Sylhet, Sunamganj, and the surrounding regions.
He told this correspondent that, although the Delta Plan implementation terminal year is set at 2100, all the projects involving capital dredging, removal of silts from river beds and embankment protection and waterfront developments on river banks under the BDP 2100 would be completed by 2031.
The junior minister said utmost importance would be attached to river training and protection under the Delta Plan, so that flood-induced human suffering and economic losses are minimised as the country aspires to graduate to an upper-middle-income country by 2031 and a developed economy by 2041.
While observing the Sylhet flood situation on May 18, Foreign Minister Dr AK Momen also pledged to dredge the rivers before next year’s monsoon.
However, the Bangladesh Water Development Board’s project profile statuses show how many of the Sylhet belt river dredging programs have been overrunning for years and progressing at a snail’s pace.
The BDP 2100 now proposes to improve the conveyance capacity and maintain the navigability of the Upper Meghna along with the Surma, Kushiyara, and Jadukata in the greater Sylhet region through dredging. Delta Plan documents say it is also needed to increase the navigability of the Kushiyara River upstream of Markuli by building weirs and navigation locks.
Deposition of sediment
Presently, the Kushiyara River carries higher sediment than the Surma River. Other transboundary rivers are also transporting sediment into this area.
The estimated sediment yields for the streams of Tripura hills as observed in the Khowai River was 1.7 million tons per year, for Manu River was 4.9 million tons/year, Dhalai River was 1.6 million tons/year, and Juri River was 1.0 million tons/year. The estimated suspended sediment load for Meghalaya streams was 0.81 million tons/year in the Jadukata River, according to the Delta Plan documents.
The highest sediment concentration was found in the Dhalai River, followed by Manu, Surma, Khowai, Someswari, Kushiyara, and Upper Meghna Rivers.
On the other hand, the highest annual sediment load has been found in Upper Meghna Rivers, followed by Kushiyara, Manu, Surma, Khowai, Dhalai and Someswari Rivers. Dredging is required to keep the rivers’ conveyance capacity intact.
What is the Delta Plan?
Bangladesh faces substantial risks as a result of its deltaic geographical configuration, high population density, and regular episodes of a range of natural disasters, including flooding, riverbank erosion, sea-level rise, salinity intrusion, tidal surge, cyclones and waterlogging.
The government adopted the country’s most long-term integrated techno-economic plan, the BDP2100, in 2018.
A meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC), presided over by the prime minister, approved the Delta Plan in September 2018 with a goal to spend at least 2.5% of the GDP each year on this purpose till the year 2100.
The BDP 2100 seeks to integrate the short to medium term aspirations of Bangladesh to achieve upper-middle-income (UMIC) status and eliminate extreme poverty by FY2031 and reach developed country status by 2041 with the longer-term challenge of sustainable management of water, ecology, environment and land resources in the context of their interaction with natural disasters and climate change.
The BDP2100 looks primarily at the medium-term delta agenda (2016-40) but is concerned that the decisions taken today have implications for the longer-term agenda for 2040 and beyond. In this regard, it sets up a long-term vision for the evolution of the Bangladesh Delta by the end of the 21st Century, but defines short and medium-term goals as steps to reach that vision.
In July 2020, a Delta Governing Council headed by the prime minister was established, which held its first meeting yesterday.
Earlier, in October 2018, the Support to Implementation of Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 (SIBDP 2100) project was initiated with the aim to facilitate the implementation of BDP2100 through building human capacity, institutional strengthening, mainstreaming and validating investment plans, as well as reviewing and updating of the Delta Plan with new knowledge and tools, as necessary.
However, in the first few years (2018 to 2021), the Delta Plan financing has lagged behind with only half to a little over 1% of the GDP allocations.
Planning Ministry sources say the government will soon accelerate the funding process and get the BDP2100 allocation to 2.5% of GDP as envisioned at the very outset.
