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China hopes that works for the multifaceted Teesta water-management project will start after the national elections in Bangladesh, with focus on taming flood onslaughts as the first task.
Chinese Ambassador in Bangladesh Yao Wen expressed the hope Thursday at a function in response to a press query on what is the latest about the much-talked-about project.
He said China had already sent a revised proposal to Bangladesh on the Teesta River water management by slashing the cost.
"We have proposed to implement the project phase by phase," he said at the programme organised by the Centre for Alternative.
Recently, the Chinese side assured its highest consideration for the 'Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project' and said Bangladesh should resubmit the loan application with a revised implementation plan 'if the country believes that the project is really necessary'.
Bangladesh sought US$725 million from China for the 980-million-dollar project aimed at ensuring better water preservation in the river that flows into Bangladesh from upstream in India.
In its evaluation China is learnt to have detected several problems regarding the investment size, feasibility study and land-development plan. The evaluation report notes that the investment amount for the project is large and there is a large uncertainty about use of the future land income as the main source of repayment.
According to the evaluation, the project feasibility-study report submitted with the loan application did not analyse and demonstrate the land development and development of shipping projects in conjunction with the regional economic-and social-development base and the current situation of shipping development.
On land development the report says the necessity of large-scale land development and utilisation and development of shipping in the watershed was not sufficiently demonstrated nor was the scale of development reasonably analysed.
Suggesting implementation of the project in phases, the evaluation report says the revised plan should focus first on solving the flood-prevention and-mitigation needs. It suggests implementation of flood-prevention projects such as embankment, slope projection, protection and river dredging in the first phase, as these are 'less difficult to construct, with small investment and quicker results'.
China also requires the analysis and estimation of the technical parts such as river evolution and control and guide engineering in the feasibility-study report. "If the Bangladesh side believes that the project is really necessary for construction, please resubmit the project application and feasibility-study report and other evaluation materials after optimizing and adjusting the project-implementation plan in accordance with the above evaluation suggestions," the evaluation report concludes, assuring 'its highest consideration'.
However, officials concerned in the water resources ministry here felt that the government high-ups prefer not to rush for big project loan considering the ongoing economic slowdown and geopolitical issues.
Originating in Sikkim and entering Bangladesh through Lalmonirhat, the 315-kilometre Teesta travels 153 kilometres through half a dozen northern districts, including Rangpur, Gaibandha, Nilphamari and Kurigram, before merging with the Jamuna at Fulchhari.
Bangladesh plans to implement the project after failing to get any positive outcome from India over the signing of the long-stalled Teesta water-sharing deal while there has been an outcry from locals against want of water in dry season and over-flooding in monsoon.
Both countries agreed to strike a deal during then Indian PM Manmohan Singh's Dhaka visit, but it was stalled at the fag-end for stiff opposition from the Paschimbanga government. After a long wait, Dhaka made a move to implement the Teesta project to store water for the river. In 2019, Bangladesh sought Chinese funding for this much-sought-after project with a request to replace it with the Dhaka-Sylhet highway project and in November 2002 sent a formal loan application. Though China responded to Bangladesh proposal for funding, it had always maintained a cautious stance.
Under the project envisaged by Bangladesh, massive drainage work will be done along 115 miles of the Teesta runs inside Bangladesh border to deepen the depth of the midstream riverbed. A 115-kilometre four-lane road will be built on the riverbanks, officials said, adding that barrage-cum-road will be built at various points to improve communications along the banks of the river.
"A big reservoir will be constructed to conserve huge surplus water that flows through the river every monsoon to ensure water supply for irrigation during dry season," says one official.
Major features of the megaproject are 108-kilometre river dredging, 173-km river embankment on either side, construction of satellite cities on both banks and preservation of assets worth Tk 1.13 trillion. The execution of the scheme is projected to create an estimated 800,000 jobs, BWDB officials involved with the project have said.