Economic corridors for Tk 325,000cr to build up on Jamuna sides

Mahfuz Emran: The government will spend around Tk 11,000 crore for buildingeconomic corridors on the both side of Jamuna River. Initially, with the funding of the World Bank, work will be done in an area of five kilometers at a cost of around Tk 11,000 crore. Deltaplan covers 230 km of rivers. But the total fund for the project is needed Tk 325,000 crore.
There is no limit to the suffering of the people along the river due to erosion. Especially the residents of Jamuna side. Poverty is on the rise there. Many families are destitute due to demolition. Important infrastructure has gone under the river. Many houses, educational institutions and vast crop lands have been destroyed. The erosion of the Jamuna does not give a chance to the people of a part of the district to turn around.
A project titled ‘Jamuna River Economic Corridor Development Project’ has been undertaken to implement the plan. The project will be jointly implemented by the Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Shipping. Development Project Proposal (DPP) has already been prepared. The World Bank will invest $1.2 billion in the project. In Bangladeshi currency which is about Tk 10,800 crore. These will be sent to the Planning Commission soon for verification and selection.
These will be sent to the Planning Commission soon for verification and selection. Once passed at the ECNEC meeting, the loan agreement will be signed between Bangladesh and the World Bank.
According to sources, first the master plan, then the pilot project will be implemented. The two banks of the river will be narrowed through river governance. The width of the river Jamuna is somewhere between 12 to 14 kilometers, somewhere 18 and somewhere 20 kilometers. It will be reduced to 4.8 km like Bangabandhu Bridge area. River excavation will be increased so that there is no problem in water flow even in the width like bridge area. Besides, flood control initiatives will be taken.
Bangladesh will get huge crop land through river embankment. By preserving that bank, various types of economic zones and small-scale industries will be established. Besides, forestry, township, dam and industrial city will be developed by managing the land and setting up settlements.
Sources close to the project said that in the first phase, five kilometers of the two banks of the Jamuna will be constructed. Townships and economic corridors will be built under the Delta Plan around 230 km from the north bank of the Jamuna Bridge in Sirajganj to the Nunkhawa India border in Kurigram in phases.
An official involved in the project told Daily Industry that it is a 15-year project. It will be implemented in a few steps. The entire 230 km bank of Jamuna will be bound. The width of the river is seen from 12 to 20 kilometers. We will make it smaller like Bangabandhu Bridge area by dredging and embankment. But there is no problem in the flow of water through Bangabandhu Bridge area. If we reduce the width of Jamuna, we will get a lot of crop land.
According to sources, the Jamuna-centric project is an important part of the Dutch Centennial Delta Plan or Delta Plan. The government sees the Delta Plan, approved by the National Economic Council (NEC) on September 4, 2016, as the key to the country’s future development. To this end, the project ‘Support to the Implementation of the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100’ has been taken up. Its job is just to prepare development projects for Deltaplan.
Its job is just to prepare development projects for Deltaplan. The total cost of this project is Tk 63 crore 79 lakh. The duration of the project is from October 2018 to September 2022.
In the meantime, a total of 60 projects have been prepared through this supporting project. Of these, 65 are projects related to physical infrastructure, 15 are projects related to institutional capacity building and research.

These require $36 billion to implement. In Bangladeshi currency, the amount is about three and Tk 325,000 crore. Under these projects, long term measures for flood, river erosion, river management, water supply in urban and rural areas, waste management and flood control and drainage management will be implemented.
If you want to know the overall project delta plan sub-project director Mirza Mohiuddin told that one of the biggest projects we are coming up with is the ‘Jamuna River Economic Corridor Development Project’. Under the project, the banks of Jamuna river from Sirajganj to Kurigram (India border) will be constructed in the style of Netherlands.
This will alleviate poverty on the one hand, and increase the amount of crop land on the other. The whole Jamuna river will be ruled. Various types of economic sectors will be developed on both the banks of the Jamuna, including flood control, construction of dams and narrowing of the width of the river Jamuna. It will be implemented in a few steps.