Water Resources Minister Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud called upon the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) officials to discharge their duties with highest dedication, sincerity and honesty. “In our society there is a common word ‘manage’. We have to stop it at any cost…I do urge the BWDB officials to discharge their duties with cent percent honesty and sincerity,” he said this on Sunday while inaugurating a workshop at the Sonargaon Hotel here. BWDB arranged the workshop on ‘Sustainable Development and Improved Water Management under Water Management Improvement Project (WMIP)’.
BWDB Director General Shahidur Rahman presided over the session while State Minister for Water Resources Ministry Muhammad Nazrul Islam, Bir Partik and Secretary of Water Resources Ministry Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan spoke as special guests. WMIP project director Md Aminul Islam presented the keynote paper on the topic of the workshop highlighting different aspects of the project. Operations Adviser of World Bank Christine E Kimes also spoke.
Referring to the massive infrastructure projects for water management, Barrister Anisul Islam said the government alone cannot take the responsibility for maintenance and sustainability of these projects while local people have to play their part in this regard also.
He stressed the need for introduction of new concepts in the ongoing projects so that the projects can deal with the negative impact of climate change that has a bearing on development issue. “It is no doubt that the BWDB has a failure but the entire South Asian region was benefited enormously as the board had lots of works such as flood management, drainage, irrigation and bank protection,” he said.
Dr Zafar Ahmed said, “I had an impression that labour management is so easier than any other management but now I understand that that was my wrong impression as water management is much harder than labour management.”
He laid emphasis on continuation of the ongoing water management projects with availability of foreign funds for sustainable water management.
Christine E Kimes said WB supports strong partnership with Bangladesh for various development projects in water sector considering that the country is now facing lots of challenges due to the climate change.
