The government is going ahead with its plan to implement the proposed Ganges Barrage Project, aiming at optimum use of its water in irrigation and cut salinity level in the country's southwest region. 

According to a document obtained by UNB, the Water Resources Ministry held a meeting in December last with a state-owned Chinese firm, Hydrochina Corporation, which is keen to implement the US$ 4 billion barrage project.  

During the meeting, the Vice President of Hydrochina Corporation informed that the China government will provide US$ 20 billion concessional loans to the South Asian countries for next five years whereas the barrage project required US$ 4 billion. 

About the interest rate of the loan, he said the interest rate of Exim Bank, China is 1.5% while commitment fee 0.2% and management fee 0.2%. Payment period will be 16 years with a grace period of four years.

Hydrochina Corporation vice president said they would like to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the implementing agency in order to organise preliminary preparations and activities in this regard.   

Acting project director of the proposed Ganges Barrage Project Rowshan Ali Khan informed that two Chinese firms -- Hydrochina Corporation and Sino-Hydro Corporation Limited -- have already shown their interest to finance the project and their proposals were sent to the Economic Relations Division (ERD) of the Finance Ministry.

Aiming to implement the project, the government has already completed the feasibility study and design of the proposed 2.1 km Ganges Barrage and it decided Pangsha of Rajbari district as the site, about 98 kilometres downstream from Farakka Barrage built on common Ganges River in the Indian state of West Bengal.

Tk 31,414 crore (US$ 4 billion) is required to implement the project in a seven-year period, but the government is yet to mobilise funds.

‘The government has given top priority for implementation of the proposed Ganges Barrage Project. If the barrage project is implemented, salinity and arsenic problems and water scarcity will be addressed in the Southwestern Region,’ Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud told UNB.

Barrage is urgent to meet future needs

The Ganges, known as Padma River in Bangladesh, is the only source of surface water in the coastal Southwestern Region of Bangladesh. For sustainable water resources management and balanced economic growth of the area, construction of a barrage across the Ganges is urgent to meet future needs.

According to the official sources, the proposed Ganges Barrage project will create a reservoir with a capacity of about 2,900 million cubic litres of water. The length of the reservoir is 165 km and the area covered will be about 62,500 hectares.

The reserved water will be diverted by the proposed distribution systems (Gorai, Hisna, Chandana, Baral, etc) in the 26 south-western districts through 123 regional rivers of the country.

Once the barrage is built, Rowshan Ali Khan said the Ganges reservoir water will be used in different seasons of the year through the channel networks with water control structures at the mouth of the channels to meet the demand of irrigation, fisheries, navigation and salinity control.

To mitigate drainage congestion

The release of water from the reservoir through the river system of the Ganges dependent area will help manage siltation problem in the river channels, mitigate drainage congestion, and preserve biodiversity and forest resources in the Sundarban, he added.

Under the proposed project, there will be a 2.1-kilometre main barrage. The project will have a rail bridge, 96 gates (78 gates with spillways and 18 sluice gates), a 14-meter wide navigation lock, and guide bunds on both banks of the Padma River. A 113-megawatts capacity hydropower plant will be set up on the barrage.

The proposed Ganges Barrage is the long-cherished project that had been under discussions for several decades since 1960s. At least four feasibility studies had been carried out during 1960-2000 to identify the possible location to implement the barrage project. But, the international financers didn't show interest to finance the project.

As a priority project, the Awami League-led alliance government during its last tenure had started work to implement the mega barrage project.

On 5 July 2013, Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Chinese firm, Changjiang Survey, Planning, Design and Research (CSPDR), to implement the proposed project on turnkey basis.  

During her visit to Japan, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 26 May in 2014 sought financial support from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for implementing the barrage project.

Anisul Islam Mahmad informed that during the Prime Minister’s visit to Japan last year, the governments of Bangladesh and Japan identified the proposed Ganges Barrage as a priority project.

‘We're trying our best to manage fund to implement the project as early as possible. When we will be able to manage the fund, we will start the work of the barrage project,’ he said.