UNB, Dhaka :
Water Resources Minister Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud on Wednesday said strengthening regional cooperation is a must to manage trans-boundary rivers in South Asia.
“It’s very difficult to manage rivers in the region unless there’s regional cooperation involving Bangladesh, India, Bhutan and China,” he told a seminar at Cirdap in the capital.
The Flood and Riverbank Erosion Risk Management Investment Programme (FRERMIP) of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) and the Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), a research think tank, arranged the seminar titled ‘Riverbank Erosion Prediction 2017’.
Speaking as the chief guest, Anisul Islam said riverbank erosion is more devastating than cyclone or flood as it takes away everything what people have.
The minister said Bangladesh is losing about 3000-4,000 hectares of land each year due to riverbank erosion, leaving many people homeless.
“Now we’re spending money to check riverbank erosion…the cost of embankment construction is very high as Tk one lakh has to be spent on building only a one-km embankment,” said Anisul adding, “If we can predict bank erosion, then we’ll be able to take preventive measures.”
About the recent disaster in haors, he said the government is planning to give all authority of haor embankment management to upazila parishad for getting local people involved in embankment monitoring and maintenance.
Water Resources Minister Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud on Wednesday said strengthening regional cooperation is a must to manage trans-boundary rivers in South Asia.
“It’s very difficult to manage rivers in the region unless there’s regional cooperation involving Bangladesh, India, Bhutan and China,” he told a seminar at Cirdap in the capital.
The Flood and Riverbank Erosion Risk Management Investment Programme (FRERMIP) of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) and the Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), a research think tank, arranged the seminar titled ‘Riverbank Erosion Prediction 2017’.
Speaking as the chief guest, Anisul Islam said riverbank erosion is more devastating than cyclone or flood as it takes away everything what people have.
The minister said Bangladesh is losing about 3000-4,000 hectares of land each year due to riverbank erosion, leaving many people homeless.
“Now we’re spending money to check riverbank erosion…the cost of embankment construction is very high as Tk one lakh has to be spent on building only a one-km embankment,” said Anisul adding, “If we can predict bank erosion, then we’ll be able to take preventive measures.”
About the recent disaster in haors, he said the government is planning to give all authority of haor embankment management to upazila parishad for getting local people involved in embankment monitoring and maintenance.
