The proposed Teesta River water management project is set to pick up speed soon after China has recently renewed its interest to fund the work against the backdrop of the stalled Teesta water-sharing agreement between Bangladesh and India.
Experts said that a visit by Chinese ambassador Li Jiming to the Teesta Barrage in Lalmonirhat on Sunday once again showed Beijing鈥檚 keen interest to fund and implement the 鈥楾eesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project鈥�.
Bangladesh has long been urging India to implement the water-sharing agreement signed between the two countries in 2011 on the trans-boundary river while preparing a feasibility study聽 on the Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project, they said.
Md Humayun Kabir, a professor at the department of geography and environment of Dhaka University, said, 鈥楧haka needs to do something to ensure a timely availability of water for the sake of many people鈥檚 livelihood.鈥櫬�
A vast swathe of the country鈥檚 northern region suffers flash floods in the rainy season and draught in winter due to the unilateral withdrawal of water by India from the Teesta, he said.
Originating in Sikkim in India and entering Bangladesh through Lalmonirhat, the 315-kilometre-long Teesta travels more than 150 kilometres through half a dozen other districts, including Rangpur, Gaibandha, Nilphamari, Kurigram, before merging with the Jamuna River at Fulchhari.
Known as a flash flood-prone river, the Teesta, while flooding, discharge maximum 4,500 cubic metres of silts per second in addition to causing serious erosion and devouring in a vast area to adversely affect the livelihoods of the area鈥檚 people.
While in Lalmonirhat, Li Jiming said that people of the region could get rid of the unwanted situation if the Teesta Master Plan was implemented.
The Chinese ambassador said that various works, including dredging the river and construction of dams and reservoirs, would be taken under the project.聽聽聽
China is serious about implementing the project, he said, adding that project works may start this year.
A survey of the river was completed in 2019 by the Power Construction Corporation of China, Powerchina in short, under the Bangladesh Water Development Board of the ministry of water resources ministry.
BWDB officials said that they had been negotiating a $938.27 million loan from China through the Economic Relations Division.
SM Rezaul Mostofa Kamal, additional secretary of the Planning Wing of the water resources ministry said that Beijing was yet to confirm funding for the project.
The matter is under negotiation, he said.
He, however, admitted that the recent visit by the Chinese ambassador to the project area was a positive sign in relation to the funding for the much-talked-about project.
The BWDB also assigned a number of regional officers to assist the Chinese ambassador during his visit.
They were BWDB Rangpur region chief engineer Anwarul Haque Bhuiya, supervisory engineer Khushi Mohan Sarkar, Dalia division executive engineer Ashfaudaula Prince and Lalmonirhat district engineer Mizanur Rahman, according to our correspondent in Lalmonirhat聽聽聽聽
Lalmonirhat-1 constituency MP and district Awami League president Motahar Hossain was present during the visit.
Motahar said that the implementation of the Teesta Master Plan has become the demand of time.
鈥榃e hope to hear good news soon from China,鈥� he said.
According to the primary plan, the project is aimed at upgrading the socio-economic condition of Rangpur by establishing new economic growth points along both banks of the river by preventing floods and removing slits from the river bed.
The Teesta is the fourth-largest trans-boundary river to enter Bangladesh from India.聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽
The Gajaldoba Barrage in West Bengal, commissioned by India in 1996, reportedly diverts 85 per cent of the Teesta water flow in winter through a link canal to the upper Mahananda River.
Bangladesh, as a lower-riparian country, has been facing adverse impacts of the unilateral water withdrawal.
鈥榃ater is the life of a river,鈥� said GM Tarekul Islam, a professor at the Institute of Water and Flood management of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
A dying river means shortage of irrigation water and a deathblow to the ecology surrounding it, he said.
Experts said that they were not sure whether the proposed river management project could ensure availability of water.
They said that negotiation skills of the government officials should be enhanced to ensure receiving the due water share for the country.