Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has inaugurated a new canal renovation and re-digging project in an effort to resolve the longstanding waterlogging crisis in the southeastern district of Noakhali.
The prime minister inaugurated the project via video conference from her official residence Ganabhaban in Dhaka on Thursday.
“The Huang He River is no longer a concern for China,” she said. “I want Noakhali’s canals to be no longer a matter of concern for the people of Noakhali.”
The nearly Tk 3.25 billion project will attempt to prevent waterlogging, improve flood controls and develop the drainage system in the Noakhali canals and re-dig 23 canals in the district.
In addition, it will improve the water drainage system across a 160 square-kilometre area.
The project will re-dig 182km of canals, dredge the Bamani River, construct sluice gates, closures and regulators and preserve 10km of river banks, reports bdnews24.
The Water Resources Ministry will have jurisdiction over the project, which received ECNEC approval in November 2016.
It will be implemented jointly by the Bangladesh Water Development Board and the military.
Canal digging began in the Dhan Shalik area of Kabirhat Upazila immediately after the inauguration. The project is scheduled to be completed by June 2021, but the prime minister said she hoped it would be completed earlier.
Though Noakhali is one of the older districts, it has remained ‘somewhat neglected’, Hasina said. The people of the district have to endure much hardship because of its proximity to coastal areas and the battle with the elements, she said.
“I have heard about the Noakhali canals whenever I visit the area. The newly dug canals will fix the waterlogging problem. It was my election promise that I would fix these canals.”
Though the Awami League began a survey to re-dig the canals when it came to power in 1996, the effort was stifled by the BNP-Jamaat alliance, the prime minister said.
The government hopes that the project will not only fix the waterlogging problem, but will also make it possible to reduce the erosion of the Sandwip channel.