Dredging the outer bar in the Passur river channel for plying the coal-laden vessels from India to the proposed power plant at Rampal in Bagerhat will destroy fish and other aquatic resources, a new study revealed on Saturday.
The report said as 33 million tonnes of silt and mud will be removed from the river Passur to Bay of Bengal through massive dredging, different species of fishes and aquatic resources will be damaged.
The small fishes and animals will be badly affected and they will disappear from the rivers in and around the Sundarbans area, said the report prepared by two foreign scientists.
Dr William Kleindl, Research Faculty at Montana State University, US, and Dr Jon Brodie, professional research fellow at ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at the James Cook University, Australia prepared the study on request from The National Committee for Saving the Sundarbans.
Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon and the National Committee on Saving the Sundarbans presented the report at a press conference at the Lecture Theater at Dhaka University yesterday.
The government is going to dredge the outer bar in the Passur Channel, so that coal-laden vessels from India can ply up to the Rampal Power Plant, to be set up only 14 km from the Sundarbans. The Passur river will be dredged at a depth of 7.5 metre so that large ships can sail into it.
The report said it would have long-term impact as the silt and mud will be spreading surrounding the eco-system
Besides, sound and light pollution during the river dredging will also create an unrest situation in the forest and rivers. As a result, fishes and animals will change their habitats in search of food.
The Power Plant will be set up only 14 km from the Sundarbans. The Mongla Port authorities will implement the project at a cost of Tk. 73,282 crore during 2017-2021, according to the Planning Ministry sources.
Earlier the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved the project amid fear of possible damage to the ecosystem of the world’s largest mangrove forest due to the power plant scheduled to be completed by December 2017.
According to the Project, dredging will be done from the Jetty No-9 of Mongla Port up to 13 kilometres upstream to ensure navigability of the river so that imported coals can reach the power plant easily.
An agreement was signed between Bangladesh and India in April 2013 for setting up the power plant. One of the main conditions of the agreement was that the government would conduct the primary dredging of the Passur river.
Under the project, 38.81 lakh cubic metres will be dredged and 3.28 lakh cubic metre earth will be needed for constructing embankments. Hydrological and Morphological impacts of the dredging work will be monitored by hydraulic experts.
The power plant will have two units, each with 1,320 megawatt capacity, built in collaboration with India. Land acquisition and building of the road networks have already begun despite a movement by environmentalists against the initiative.
