[ALOCHONA] IFIs and Rivers in Bangladesh

IFIs and Rivers in Bangladesh   M. Anowar Hossain Abu Muhammad Sufiyan       http://www.angikarbd.org/edited/IFIs_and_Rivers_in_Bangladesh[1].doc   Introduction Since 1980, donor and creditor agencies (e.g., the IMF and World Bank) have exerted pressure on governments to downsize, decentralize, and privatize (or "contract out") their functions. In 2002, after sustained pressure from the U.S. government, the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank adopted a new overarching strategy for the institution – the Private Sector Development (PSD) Strategy – which aimed to advance privatization in the so-called "frontier" sectors: health care, education and water.   In fiscal year 2005, the World Bank spent over $7 billion in these sectors, including about $3 billion in the water and sanitation sector.     The World Bank has expanded its lending operations in infrastructure by $1 billion per year for the last three years until infrastructure comprises 33% of its total portfolio. This trend will continue for the next two to three years until infrastructure operations comprise 40% of the Bank's total portfolio.   In addition, its private sector affiliate, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) is planning "quantum growth" beginning in 2006, in areas such as infrastructure, health care, and education.  The World Bank provides loan and grant assistance to governments, whereas the IFC lends to, and takes equity positions in, private sector projects.  Although the IFC's level of commitments grew by 40% in the last three years, commitments could expand by an additional 50% in the coming three years to as much as $7.2 billion, with commitments to Africa and the Middle East doubling.   The IMF has been a significant driver of water privatization and the institution is poised to expand its role in promoting trade in services, including water supply.   Both the IMF and World Bank are more actively ensuring that low-income country governments integrate reforms related to privatization and trade reforms into their medium-term development strategies, or Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs).  The institutions require governments to prepare PRSPs as a condition for receiving financial assistance.     World Bank's Water Policy   The Bank's Water Country Assistance Strategy outlines a vision highlighting the enormity and complexity of investments and reforms necessary to address the country's water needs, and names a number of top priority programs. They include:   Improving water supply, sanitation, and drainage in Dhaka Wetland rehabilitation and management Rehabilitating flood control and drainage infrastructure Supporting programs and policies that expand minor irrigation Supporting efforts to manage river erosion Continuing support to scale up safe rural and small-town water supply supporting inland transport   Kemper says the Bank will also stand ready to support the government of Bangladesh in its efforts to improve the institutional and governance structures in the various water-related sectors to ensure infrastructure investments enhance economic growth and poverty reduction.[1]   River Bank Protection Project   The River Bank Protection Project's principal objective is to prevent the erosion of riparian land at two locations on the west bank of the Brahmaputra by the construction and maintenance of improved river-bank protection works which will: 1) protect Sirajganj town's built-up and semi-urban areas from major damage and cumulative destruction; and 2) prevent the merger of the Brahmaputra and Bangali Rivers in the vicinity of Sariakandi and consequential increased regional flooding. A further objective is to assist the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) in developing permanent institutions for improved water sector planning, preserving the institutional capacity developed under the Flood Action Plan (FAP) and making multi-disciplinary planning part of Bangladesh's normal water sector planning processes. The project's components are: 1) rehabilitation and construction of river-bank protection works at two sites on the Brahmaputra River's west bank; 2) land acquisition and a program of resettlement for people displaced by project works; 3) technical assistance for implementation supervision and maintenance of works constructed under the project; 4) establishment and initial funding of a specialized operations and maintenance (O&M) Unit in the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) to maintain the riverbank protection works constructed under the project, and procurement of vehicles and equipment for the O&M Unit; 5) institution building technical assistance to Water Resources Planning Organization (WARPO) to integrate the FAP within the framework of national water planning, produce a national water management plan and a portfolio of investment projects for the medium and long-term, and upgrade integrated water sector planning capability; and 6) institutional capacity building technical assistance to BWDB to improve the operation of the new regional accounting centers, and provision of equipment and transport to improve project supervision capability in the field and internal communications.   World Bank in FAP   In july and august of 1988, Bangladesh was hit with the flood of the century. Rainfall ponding on lowland fields combined with water spilling over the banks of the country's huge rivers to cover nearly half the nation, killing 2,500 people and forcing millions to temporarily abandon their homes. For the first time in memory, floodwaters reached the diplomatic quarter of the capital city Dhaka, helping to capture the attention of the world's media. As the floodwaters receded and a new flood of emergency supplies poured into Bangladesh, the possibility of a bonanza of development aid contracts attracted the interest of engineers and consultants from Paris to Tokyo. Within a year, the mega-project now known as the Bangladesh Flood Action Plan (FAP) was born at a meeting of the Group of Seven country leaders in July 1989. The World Bank was given responsibility for coordinating the 15 donor countries and multilateral agencies that were involved.   Now, almost four years later, the growing movement in opposition to the controversial scheme to construct up to 8,000 kilometers of embankments along Bangladesh's three major rivers is challenging many of the assumptions underlying the international aid business, and forcing several wealthy governments to reconsider their participation in the multi-billion dollar project. In a victory for Green Party activists from France, Germany and the Netherlands, the European Parliament will host an unprecedented open debate of the merits of the FAP May 26 and 27, 1993, where project opponents will have an opportunity to present their case directly to many of the governments funding the scheme.   They will argue that the Flood Action Plan embankments will force as many as eight million people from their homes, greatly damage the valuable inland fisheries and ultimately fail to deal with the threat of coastal cyclones, the most pressing flood hazard. Moreover, say critics of the scheme, the true beneficiaries of the plan will be foreign consultants and contractors who will collect hundreds of millions of dollars in fees, the cost of which will be added to Bangladesh's already crushing foreign debt.   Birth of a mega-project    Among those trapped by the rising waters of the 1988 flood was Danielle Mitterand, whose husband happened to be president of France. After hearing her vivid account of the experience, François Mitterand commissioned the French Engineering Consortium to draw up a plan for controlling future floods in Bangladesh. Wary of letting the French get the inside track on the inevitable contracts to implement whatever plan emerged, the Japanese and U.S. governments commissioned separate studies, as did the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).   The French plan called for a massive program of embankment construction to channel all the major rivers of Bangladesh, and for the building of a giant honeycomb of compartments behind the embankments. Within these compartments, surrounded by embankments on all sides, flood-sensitive, high-yield varieties of rice could be cultivated and shrimp farms established to boost the country's exports. The full scheme would take up to 20 years to implement at a cost of $10.2 billion. While the UNDP's experts also called for an ambitious embankment building program, they said it could be done for a mere $4 billion. The U.S. and Japanese studies, on the other hand, concluded that embankments were unlikely to effectively control the major once-in-a-century floods and recommended focusing on less costly flood management measures such as flood preparedness, forecasting and warning systems.   Despite these conflicting recommendations, the World Bank's comprehensive Plan for Action, published in 1990, declared that "the country cannot be at the mercy of floods forever and all the major rivers must be contained so that the floods are safely passed through Bangladesh to the ocean." The plan called for an initial investment over five years of $150 million for a series of 15 additional studies, and $500 million for the first phase of 11 "pilot" embankment construction projects. The various donors - which include several Northern countries and multilateral lending agencies - each fund one or two components, with the World Bank playing the role of coordinator. Most of the studies are now nearing completion, and with new funds becoming available, construction could begin before the end of 1993.   A flood of refugees?    As the FAP has gained momentum, so has an increasingly vocal movement opposing the project. Among the first to speak out against the plan were leaders of the people who live on the shifting sand bar islands known as chars. "The embankments will destroy the life of the char people" says Mujibul Huq Dulu, director of the Jamuna Char Integrated Development Project. "How is the FAP going to compensate for this tragedy?" The FAP calls for the 15-kilometer-wide Jamuna reach of the Brahmaputra River in west central Bangladesh to be embanked first, with the French- funded FAP component embanking 70 kilometers of the left bank and the World Bank- funded FAP component rebuilding much of the 240-kilometer right-bank levee, first constructed in the 1960s with World Bank funding, but now nearly destroyed by erosion and lack of maintenance. Project engineers predict that the embankments will raise river levels as much as several meters, making the land between the embankments uninhabitable for the 2.1 million people who now live there.   In addition, embankment construction along the Jamuna will displace tens of thousands more from the lands where the new embankments are sited. Those whose land is confiscated can expect little or no compensation. According to Farhad Mazhar, managing director of the development organization UBINIG (Policy Research for Development Alternatives), "The procedures of land acquisition and resettlement are highly bureaucratic and inherently based on state violence and denial of citizens' rights. The people almost invariably are not compensated. The poor and the powerless are obviously the main victims." Hashem Ali, who lives in the district of Sirajganj, lost most of his land during a previous rebuilding of the right bank embankment in 1972. "We could not stop the government from taking our land because if they select the land and put a flag on it, we already lose it. We become beggars. I am always scared of the possibility of seeing another flag on my small piece of land," says Ali. "Where will I go?"   Although World Bank guidelines require consultation with the people who will be impacted by the plan, residents of the Sirajganj district have had little contact with project authorities. "Nobody ever asked us how we will be affected, nobody wants to listen to us," complains 70-year-old village elder Mohammad Sekander. "If we were asked, we would never have let them carry on the plan of making embankments. Our opinion is not taken but we are the ones to be affected badly."   Walling off the rivers    The strong popular sentiment against flood control embankments is based on bitter experience. Bangladesh is located on one of the largest and most active river deltas in the world, formed by the confluence of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers; 80 percent of the country's 144,000 square-kilometer area is floodplain. While Bangladesh is vulnerable to infrequent extreme floods, the traditional agricultural system depends on the milder annual monsoon floods to moisten and fertilize the fields of rice and jute. In fact, the Bengali language has two words for flood, barsha, used for the normal beneficial floods, and bona, the infrequent and destructive large floods. "We are the people belonging to the land of rivers," says Sekander. "We have learned that floods bring more fertility to our land. One can compare the lands which are within the embankments with those which are outside. We need to apply 50 kilograms of fertilizer to the same amount of land inside the embankment whereas outside we apply only 15 kilograms. Yet the crop yield inside is not any better."   Past flood control embankment projects have had devastating impacts on the inland fisheries. Twenty years ago the fisheries supplied 80 percent of the protein consumed in Bangladesh, but the supply has dwindled as embankments increasingly block migration pathways for riverine fish. The majority of fresh water fish species in Bangladesh depend on access to the floodplain during the annual monsoon barsha flood for spawning and rearing habitat. The largely landless or land-poor rural population would be particularly hard hit by the further declines in the inland fisheries caused by the FAP embankments. However, Liaquat Hossain of the Bangladesh Water Development Board asserts that "it is not correct that fishery resources will be reduced" by the FAP. "By construction of hatcheries, fishery resources can be increased tremendously," he says. Many experts disagree. Dr. Chu Fa Tsai, professor of fisheries biology at the University of Maryland, describes the potential impact in apocalyptic terms. "What a cyclone is to the coastal areas of Bangladesh, FAP is so to the fisheries of the country." Either way, a shift from open water fish capture to closed water aquaculture would in effect involve a massive transfer of common resources into private hands. Moreover, the loss of normal flooding may lower groundwater levels, drying up important wetlands and lakes, and further reducing habitat for fish and already threatened migratory birds, amphibians and reptiles.   Beyond the severe social and environmental impacts of the scheme, critics also point to the plan's technical deficiencies. Dr. Philip Williams, president of the Berkeley, California-based International Rivers Network (IRN) and a noted hydrologist, claims that "the plan is likely to fail even in its narrow technical goal of reducing damages from extreme river floods. Flood control embankments in Bangladesh have been spectacularly unsuccessful in the past, and there is no indication that the World Bank has learned anything from its past failures."   The FAP must overcome tremendous technical obstacles to achieve the World Bank's stated goal of "eliminating the flood problem." The rivers of Bangladesh are among the most powerful and sediment-laden on earth. Even the most heavily fortified embankments, such as the one at the city of Chandpur which was destroyed in the 1988 flood, have proven ineffective in stopping the natural migration of Bangladesh's river channels across the delta.   Embankments built on smaller rivers in Bangladesh have resulted in rapid accumulation of sediment within the river bed - sediment which otherwise would be spread across the floodplain. This process is likely to be repeated on a much larger scale if the FAP embankments are built. As river beds rise higher, the rivers will become perched above the surrounding land, and embankments will need to be continually raised to maintain flood capacity. In this unstable situation, "any embankment failure could lead to a catastrophic flood as the confined river permanently abandons its former path and cuts a new channel across the protected former floodplain, leaving the expensive embankments high and dry," warns Williams.   One critical problem in past embankment projects in Bangladesh has been the lack of careful and regular maintenance. The UNDP, in its 1989 study, blames the "total disinterest often demonstrated by the population to maintain the structures and works that are to protect their life and property." However, most rural Bangladeshis do not consider the embankments in any way beneficial. In fact, it is often the people living directly behind embankments who intentionally create breaches known as "public cuts" in order to allow water into their fields or to drain ponded rainwater trapped behind the embankments.   Neglected alternatives    Perhaps of greatest concern is the charge that the FAP neglects Bangladesh's most pressing flood danger, posed not by rivers but by cyclones which sweep out of the Bay of Bengal and regularly devastate the densely populated coastline. According to Williams, "The real flood risk is from cyclone-driven coastal floods which have killed more than a million people in the past two decades." The most recent cyclone killed at least 150,000 people in April 1991.   Bangladeshi non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have put forward numerous flood management alternatives which are intended to assist Bangladeshis in their traditional adaptations to living on the flood-prone delta. This approach is based on the view that coastal dwellers threatened by cyclone-driven floods need high-ground refuges and effective warning systems so they can evacuate low-lying areas in time. The NGOs also assert that long-term protection could be provided by replanting the extensive coastal mangrove forests, cleared in part for commercial shrimp cultivation in previous World Bank-funded projects. Coastal mangrove forests are capable of absorbing much of the energy in the cyclone-driven storm surge, sheltering lands directly inland. Similar flood- preparedness programs could protect upstream populations threatened by river flooding, by providing rural community centers placed on high ground where tents, food, water and medicines would be available during an extreme flood event. An accurate flood forecasting and warning system could provide people with adequate time to harvest crops and move themselves and their livestock to refuge areas..    The direct economic benefit of reducing damages from extreme river floods is too small to justify the great expense of the FAP, so the World Bank bases its justification on the indirect benefits of projected increases in wet season agricultural yields. However, the greatest potential for growth in agricultural production lies in the dry season through the expansion of so-called "minor irrigation" technology, tubewells and low lift pumps, which do not require any structural flood-control investment. According to U.S. Agency for International Development reports, Bangladesh currently utilizes only 25 percent of its dry season irrigation potential. The primary constraint to the growth of small scale irrigation has been difficulty in obtaining credit, a problem likely to be exacerbated by the huge expenditures of the FAP.   Greedy donors    Many critics of the FAP believe the plan is really more about providing contracts to donor country businesses than it is about saving the lives of Bangladeshis who live along the rivers. One consultant to the U.S.-funded component, who requested anonymity, told Multinational Monitor that "the FAP has been driven by the donor countries from the beginning. Even if the studies show that building embankments is just throwing money in the river, there is tremendous pressure from outside Bangladesh to see some earth moved." Khorshed Ahmed of the Bangladesh People's Solidarity Center is equally blunt. "The primary beneficiaries of the FAP will be the consultants and construction companies from industrialized countries who will be employed to build the embankments."   Bruce Rich, attorney for the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Defence Fund and a long-time critic of World Bank lending for destructive mega-projects, asserts that funneling money to donor country businesses has always been a top priority for the World Bank. "Most World Bank disbursements flow right back again out of borrower countries in the form of procurement contracts, and the lion's share of these contracts go to the 10 richest industrialized nations."    Recently, the campaign against the FAP has put the World Bank on the defensive. When Bank President Lewis Preston visited Bangladesh in November 1992, he was greeted by nearly 1,000 demonstrators in the first public anti-FAP protest. Student organizers were joined by women's organizations protesting World Bank-funded population control programs and trade unionists denouncing Bank-supported structural adjustment policies. Confronted at a reception by NGO representatives who told him of the millions of char people potentially affected by the project, Preston "seemed shocked," according to one eyewitness who added that the Bank president said, "The last thing we need is another Narmada." This was a reference to the resistance campaign of tens of thousands of villagers in India fighting the World Bank-funded Sardar Sarovar Dam [see Cracks in the Dam: The World Bank in India," Multinational Monitor, December 1992]. The World Bank announced in March that it is ending its involvement with the Narmada project.    The Bank is sending a delegation to the European Parliament debate in May to attempt to reassure European governments that the problems with the FAP are not grounds for withdrawing from the project. But several governments are reportedly considering doing just that. A high-level mission from the Dutch government has just returned from Bangladesh with a highly critical report. Bangladeshi NGOs are now calling for a suspension of work on studies and "pilot" construction projects until certain minimum conditions are met. "The legal basis for public consultation and people's participation must be ensured first," says Mazhar. "Access to information must be ensured," and comprehensive social and environmental assessments should be done, "given the enormous impact the project will have on ecology and environment and the displacement of people. This is the least one can expect [in order] to have a meaningful dialogue with the World Bank." [2]   Water management and flood protection   During the annual cycle of flooding, the three main rivers engulf almost two thirds of agricultural land, often unpredictably. The government of Bangladesh and donors have tried to make this flooding less lethal, and at the same time boost agricultural productivity. Early emphasis was on the construction of massive systems of barrages, embankments and canals, with the Bank coordinating donor support. After the disastrous floods of 1987 and 1988, the government and the donor community asked the World Bank to design and coordinate a five-year multidonor Flood Action Plan. The Bank has also helped the government in the first phase of the Coastal Embankment Rehabilitation Program under which the coastal area from Cox's Bazar to Chittagong and beyond and the Sandwip Island have been protected.   A River Bank Protection Project is helping prevent erosion and flooding along the Jamuna River north of the Bangbandu Bridge, and also protecting a narrow strip of land separating the Jamuna and Bangali Rivers from erosion which would lead to massive flooding and destruction. The project is also funding the preparation of a National Water Management Plan; its primary objective would be to contribute to the rational economic development of the country's water resources, while protecting the natural environment and improving the quality of life of the people of Bangladesh. To help the preparation of the plan, the Bank has prepared a draft report, Water Resources Management in Bangladesh: Steps Towards the New National Water Plan.   From Bridging the Jamuna to Bridging the Nation   The Jamuna Bridge is the world's eleventh longest bridge, spanning for the first time the world's fifth largest river. The Jamuna River divides Bangladesh, its roads and railways and the population down the middle as it braids its way to the Bay of Bengal. A journey that used to take 12 to 36 hours to travel from Dhaka to Bogra, using road transport and river ferries, will now take only 6 hours. The 4.8-kilometer bridge can also carry railway traffic and ties together Bangladesh's power and gas networks into a national grid. The bridge will integrate the economy, commerce, and communications more than perhaps any other physical investment has done..   Funded by the government, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the Japanese Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund, the project involves both massive physical works—bridge design and construction, river training and land reclamation, construction of approach roads—and resettlement. In partnership with NGOs, nearly 15,000 households affected by the acquisition of land for the project have been moved to new villages. There is provision also for compensating households that may be affected by erosion and flooding in the impact zone of the bridge and for mitigating other environmental effects.   Building the US$740 million bridge demonstrates what a combination of client ownership, political commitment, public support, stakeholder and NGO participation, foreign donor partnerships and government institutional strengths can achieve. Successive governments since Independence have remained committed to the bridge, some of Bangladesh's most capable civil servants have led the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Authority, and the NGOs, consultants, contractors, and co-financiers involved in the endeavour have cooperated well.   In this riverine country almost half the transport is by river and sea, and the World Bank has financed several water transport projects. The ongoing Inland Water Transport Project is helping to improve waterway safety and environmental controls; it aims to increase inland passenger transport capacity by providing additional inland ports and passenger facilities. It is also dredging waterways to improve access to the northeast and to Baghabari Port in the northwest.     Bank's help on Bangladesh Water Sector   The World Bank is poised to play a major role in helping solve serious water problems in Bangladesh. The Bank released the Bangladesh Country Water Resources Assistance Strategy, signaling it will again become involved in the country's water sector. One project—the Bangladesh Water Supply Program Project—is already ongoing. Two other projects, focusing on Dhaka, are being prepared.   "Water is a key issue in Bangladesh and the Bank felt that it was important to reengage and to do so in a strategic manner," says Karin E. Kemper, Lead Water Resource Management Specialist. The Assistance Strategy describes what the Bank can and will do to help Bangladesh protect and manage water resources needed for drinking water, sanitation, transportation, fisheries, and agriculture.   The report says that a large increase in the population, combined with economic growth, will tax water resources over the next half-century. It forecasts that the population will grow from 133 million to 220 million by 2050. As a result, water will likely become the country's most important environmental and development issue in the future, says the report. Large investments in water infrastructure are needed to supply water to expanding urban centers. Current systems deliver about 10,000 million liters a day. Future demand is expected to be over 35,000 million liters a day.   Vulnerable to Climate Change   Bangladesh also needs to factor climate change into long-term planning, the report warns. The country is vulnerable to climate change because it is densely populated, located in a low-lying delta, subject to flooding during the monsoon season, and suffers water shortages during the dry season. It is already the "most disaster-prone of all countries," says the report, having suffered 170 large-scale disasters between 1970 and 1998, with an annual frequency of 6.11 disasters.   Climate change could reduce the amount of fresh water available during the dry season, increase flooding during the monsoon season, and worsen drainage problems in coastal areas. "Climate change is important to the country, especially with regard to further sea water intrusion in the coastal zone," Kemper says. According to the report, a possible sea level rise of 30 cm or more would exacerbate drainage problems along the coast, currently protected from flooding by embankments and drainage regulators designed for current water levels and tidal fluctuations.   "In addition to the coastal zone issues, there may be more rain, i.e., floods over the coming decades, followed by less rain. That means that flood management and adaptation are key issues for years to come," Kemper says. "The key word is 'adaptation,'" she says. The country needs to "progressively adapt" to changes brought about by climate change, so that expected impacts can be taken into account proactively in the planning and design of water resources infrastructure.    River Bank Erosion and ADB The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is helping to protect the livelihoods of 2 million people threatened by riverbank erosion in Bangladesh, through a loan approved for US$42.2 million equivalent. The loan will help finance the Jamuna-Meghna River Erosion Mitigation Project. This will tackle riverbank erosion, which poses a critical threat to people's livelihoods in the two ADB-funded flood embankments in the Pabna Irrigation and Rural Development Project (PIRDP) and the Meghna-Dhonagoda Irrigation Project (MDIP).   If unchecked, the ongoing riverbank erosion is very likely to undercut the existing flood embankments, leading to devastating flood damage that could affect up to 2 million people within the protected area. In addition, over the next 10 years it could lead to the loss of about 1,700 hectares of highly productive agricultural land and homesteads, thereby reducing about 28,000 people to asset-less poor.   The mitigation measures aim to stabilize 7.0 km and 4.4 km of riverbank in the PIRDP and MDIP, respectively, by working on critical sections without changing the flow pattern of the river. To achieve this, revetments that use geotextile bags filled with sand by intensive local labour will be placed at the top of eroding banks. When undercut by erosion these will fall, covering the eroding slope and arresting the damage..   Apart from the structural work, the project will also promote a range of non-structural erosion impact mitigation measures to build disaster preparedness and organize social development support targeted at the erosion-affected poor people. In addition, the project will carry out institutional strengthening, including capacity development and project management to ensure sustainability of the project impacts, in line with the Government's 1999 National Water Policy.   Riverbank erosion displaces more than 100,000 people annually in Bangladesh, resulting in devastating social and poverty impacts along the country's major rivers, where poverty is highly concentrated."This project is intended to establish innovative erosion mitigation measures that are both cost effective and sustainable, flexible and adaptive to the natural river processes, and cause minimum social disruption", says Kenichi Yokoyama, an ADB Project Engineer.   "Conventional protection structures to control river channels would be prohibitively expensive to build and maintain. Upon successful implementation of the project, this less costly adaptive approach could be replicated in poverty-stricken floodplains elsewhere in the country."   The total cost of the project is estimated to be US$61.3 million equivalent, US$19.1 million of which will be funded by the Government. ADB's loan comes from its Asian Development Fund, carrying a 32-year term, including a grace period of eight years. Interest is 1.0% per annum during the grace period and 1.5% per annum subsequently. The executing agency for the project, which is due for completion by end-December 2008, is the Bangladesh Water Development Board.[3]   ADB Loan to Bangladesh for Railway Link across Jamuna River   Rail links between Bangladesh's less developed north-western region and more developed eastern region will be strengthened by a US$110 million loan approved today by the Asian Development Bank for the Jamuna Bridge Railway Link project. The project will remove a severe bottleneck at the Jamuna river where people and goods presently cross the river by ferry, getting off the train on one side and embarking on another train on the other side.   The project will integrate the gauges of exisiting railway lines and build a new 99 km dual gauge line from Jamtoil to Joydebpur on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka, so that passengers and goods will be able to cross the river by train without interruption. The project is expected to generate a substantial volume of new freight traffic, including that of the coal and hard rock mines in the region. An important part of the project is streamlining Bangladesh Railway, the executing agency, to make it more efficient and cost-effective.  Ultimately, the project will also help develop a potential subregional growth area that includes parts of India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.   The total project cost is US$269 million. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Fund for International Development will finance US$15 million and the governments of France and Spain will provide concessional parallel cofinancing of US$8 million equivalent and US$11.4 million equivalent, respectively. The Export Development Corporation of Canada is expected to finance US$7 million. The Bangladesh Government will provide the local cost financing of US$117.6 million equivalent.   The ADB loan will be from the Bank's Special Funds resources which is interest free, carries a service charge of 1 percent per annum, and is repayable over 40 years, including a 10-year grace period. Approval of the loan is subject to the condition that the loan shall be signed when sufficient financial resources are available from the Asian Development Fund, the Bank's concessional lending window. This is the fourth ADB project to Bangladesh for railway construction and rehabilitation.   ADB Loan to protect Bangladesh's secondary towns from floods   The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved today an US$80 million loan for a project to protect Bangladesh's secondary towns from the devastating effects of floods.  The project, the second phase of the Secondary Towns Integrated Flood Protection Project, covers nine secondary towns that are prone to river flooding, river erosion, waterlogging, and flash floods - Brahmanbaria, Gaibandha, Jamalpur, Kushtia, Manikganj, Munshiganj, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, and Sunamganj. The project's integrated approach will combine river protection works with drainage and basic sanitation services to create better environmental conditions and more hygienic living conditions for the poor in the slums.   "The urban sector presents a great opportunity for both pro-poor economic growth and targeted poverty reduction, yet its growth potential is severely undermined by frequent flooding," says Hun Kim, an ADB Principal Urban Economist.  "A flood-free and secure living environment will help promote economic growth and reduce poverty in Bangladesh's urban sector."   Flooding is a perennial problem in Bangladesh and urban areas are more prone to economic and human losses because of their high population density and concentration of industrial and investment sites. Lack of flood protection and inadequate drainage lead to water-logging and overflowing of sewerage facilities, especially latrines, causing widespread environmental degradation and unsanitary living conditions.   Slum-dwellers in low-lying areas or in areas close to the embankment are the first to be inundated when the floods come as those areas lack proper drainage and sewerage. Inhabitants in such areas must wade through knee- and waist-deep polluted water to go about their daily activities. The project comprises four components. The first will create new or upgrade existing flood protection facilities, such as earthen flood embankments, reinforced concrete flood walls, and drainage regulators, in each of the selected towns.   The second component will improve the existing drainage works in each town by constructing large lined drains and open unlined drainage outfalls, including small structures such as road culverts and bridges. Under the third component, the project will focus on improving the urban environment. It will improve solid waste management by, among others, establishing landfill sites and building a pilot composting facility.   To tackle sanitation problems, the project will provide about 13,200 sanitary latrines and 22 public toilets. A sanitation management plan will also be prepared for each of the nine towns to address operation and maintenance needs. A slum improvement subcomponent will provide basic infrastructure facilities for sanitation, drainage, footpaths, water supply, and street lighting for five out of the nine towns not covered by other development programs.   The last component will ensure the long-term sustainability of the project by building the capacities of the participating towns to manage the new assets to be created. ADB's loan, which covers 62.1% of the total project cost of $128.88 million, comes from its concessional Asian Development Fund. It carries a 32-year term including a grace period of 8 years. Interest is charged at 1.0% per annum during the grace period and 1.5% per annum subsequently.   The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Fund will provide cofinancing worth $15 million, and the Government will contribute $33.78 million toward the project cost. The beneficiaries of the slum improvement works will contribute $100,000 equivalent. The executing agencies of the project are the Bangladesh Water Development Board under the Ministry of Water Resources, as the lead agency, and the Local Government Engineering Department under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives. The project is due for completion in June 2009.   INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT   Whether it be drinking or sanitation, irrigating crops, manufacturing or India's proposed river-linking project, there are multiple demands and perceived threats on Bangladesh's water resources. In addition, the floods during the monsoon season and the scarcity of water during the dry season cause extreme misery and hardship to millions of people.   There are many challenges in developing an integrated national and transboundary approach towards the managing of water resources in Bangladesh. Bangladesh's Water Development Board (WDB), for example, estimates that more than 170 of Bangladesh's 230 large and medium rivers are suffering from pollution and poor water management. The Bangladeshi government also predicts that India plans to divert water from major rivers, including the Ganges and Brahmaputra, threatening the livelihoods of more than 100 million people downstream in Bangladesh. The country's position as the lowest riparian country also means that, all too often, it has little control over the huge cross-boundary flows of water.   And, despite the Government embarking on a series of water sector reforms including the adoption of the National Water Policy (NWP) in 1999, and preparation of the 25-year National Water Management Plan (NWMP) in 2001, areas of weakness remain - particularly at an institutional level. These include a lack of formal arrangements for water allocation, fragmentation of water issues and responsibilities across several ministries, lack of capacity especially at local government levels, and the limited involvement of local communities.   This session will examine how successfully Bangladesh is in moving towards an integrated approach to water management; will look at some of the competing issues over water resources and whether decisions should be devolved to lower levels. The session will also look at how to exploit synergies between government, civil society and the private sector - in particular small local entrepreneurs.   Areas, that will be highlighted, will include:   The growing need to adopt a basin-wide approach to the management of the waters of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna Rivers The need for institutional strengthening and the potential role of water sector apex bodies The importance of water decision-making at the district and local level How to incorporate IWRM into water resource planning And the sharing of transboundary river water   BRINGING SAFE DRINKING WATER TO THE URBAN POOR  Bangladesh's urban population is increasing at alarming rates with it being predicted that more than 50 percent of the country's population will live in urban areas by 2025. With many people from rural areas migrating to the city and often settling in squatter communities, acute poverty, overcrowding and unhealthy disposal of waste are all playing a major role in the water and sanitation challenges facing urban Bangladesh.   In Dhaka, water supply is being constrained by severe pollution in all of Dhaka's main rivers, an expanding slum population (about 40 percent of the population of Dhaka live in illegal settlements) and little attention paid by the local utility towards cost recovery and network expansion.   Furthermore, the Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) will not provide water to the people living in slum areas, such as Pallabi, Demra, Uttra, and Kamrangir Char Slums, because they live outside the service area. The result is people have to rely on a number of unsafe alternative sources, such as illegal connections to the city's water supply and often paying up to 10 times the price of the water sold to legal connections   WATER & FLOODS IN BANGLADESH August 2004 saw some of the worst flooding in the country's history with billions of dollars in damages, two thirds of the country submerged under water and over 800 people dead. So great was the flooding that the Asian Development Bank downgraded gross domestic product (GDP) projections for Bangladesh from 6.0% to 4.8% for FY2005. Areas affected by the flooding included small and medium enterprises, in particular the export-oriented knitwear industry, standing crops and the output of poultry, livestock, fisheries, and forestry.   And with most of the country lying within the flood plains of three great rivers-- the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna rivers - such flooding is now almost an annual phenomenon. And almost invariably it the poor who suffer most with destroyed crops and still-flooded lands leaving many with no income, no shelter and vulnerable to disease.   However there are many benefits to the floods as well. With Bangladesh's economy largely agricultural, the waters help to regenerate soil and increase agricultural productivity, replenish groundwater, and rejuvenate wetlands for fish and aquatic plants. This session will look at how to develop a flood management strategy that moves away from 'crisis management' and focuses on a long-term management strategy that recognizes the benefits of floods but mitigates the damage. Areas that will be covered in the session will include:   A historical perspective on attempts to control floods in Bangladesh The importance of controlling flooding along the Brahmaputra-Jamuna River How to counter riverbank erosion The case for greater regional co-operation among the countries in the basins of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna Rivers Whether wetlands can be restored as temporary flood storage areas Pre-emergency activities, such as flood forecasting, flood warning, evacuation and sheltering And the importance of non-structural measures, such as the education and training of local communities to better manage flooding. Measures could include planting trees along embankments, constructing earth platforms close to flood-prone villages and a greater provision for storing safe drinking water above flood level    ADB is committed to provide support for integrated and sustainable water resources management and the framework for a national water management plan.   The real effects of donor aided projects People in general are taught to consider floods as a curse of fate. The ruling class is happy to describe flooding as a natural disaster. But, in reality, flooding is a close associate of the "development" festival drama. In other words, the flooding is closely linked to grabbing of waterways and filling them with shopping plazas and multistoried housing, and to big irrigation and flood control projects. This is an old story, filled with lies, hypocrisy, cheating, intellectual fraud, and all-out plunder.   After the floods of 1954, Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) was established in 1959, and several flood control and irrigation projects were conceived. This was the beginning of a new era of massive intervention-injection-construction on the waterways of Bangladesh. Since then we have had plenty of projects for erecting embankments and other structures. Not coincidentally, perhaps, we have since then experienced increased intensity of flooding.   The time gaps between massive floods have been narrowing with the increase of flood prevention projects: 1954 to 1974: 20 years, 1974 to 1987 and 1988: 13-14 years, 1988 to 1998: 10 years, and 1998 to 2004: 6 years. It is a linear progression. In 1964, a 20-year master plan for water resources development was initiated, and after independence, the government endorsed this approach quite uncritically and took steps to carry the programme further. More than 8,200 km of embankments were constructed under these projects. In addition, more than 4,700 km of irrigation canals, 3,400 km of drainage channels, more than 9,000 hydraulic structures (such as sluice gates and regulators), 4,300 bridges and culverts, 96 pump houses and two barrages were built.   In 1972, the World Bank seemed critical about some of the projects that had been started in the 60s. It termed many of the projects as "poorly conceived" and "ill-suited" to the particular needs of the country. It categorically named one, the Ganges-Kobadak irrigation and flood control project as "an example of a poorly selected and prepared project." But by then $132 million had been spent on it. According to the Bank, "after 16 years of construction, redesign, and reconstruction, the project failed to perform at even 50 percent of the original design standard." Nevertheless, the same institution kept itself busy continuing similar old big projects and formulating similar new ones.   Repeatedly, the Bank and other "development" missions have noted the great potential for using ground water for domestic and agricultural needs and therefore advocated for its more intensive use. Many water projects, such as Brahmaputra right bank embankment project, Pabna project, Dakatia and Halda project, Barisal project, Ganges-Kobadak Kushtia project, Chenchuri and the Barnal, Salinpur-Bashukhali projects in the Khulna area, Surma-Baulai Haor and the Knowai River projects in Northeast region, River training, Chandpur riverbed stabilization project, Chilmari project, and Kurigram project came into being.   To name a few, Chalan Beel, one of the richest wetland areas of Bangladesh, is now almost ruined by water projects. Due to construction of ill-conceived embankments and regulators, drainage has been impeded and water-logging has become a serious problem in Atrai-Hurasagar drainage basin. In Beel Dakatia, a huge area has been waterlogged for about twenty years as a result of big water projects. After nearly thirty years of "successful" and intensive tapping of groundwater, nearly 35 million people in Bangladesh are now facing deadly threat from arsenic poisoning. Experts opine that arsenic in the groundwater has links with indiscriminate use of groundwater. Now, again, the Bank has taken the lead in conducting million dollar projects related to "managing" the arsenic problem.   The ADB also played a significant role in formulating and supporting similar programmes. While numerous documents describe the processes leading to the initiation of flood control, drainage, and irrigation (FCDI) projects, few exist that critique a project's completion or post-project evaluation. The Bank and the ADB were the largest actors in these FCDI projects. The share of these two institutions of the projects in the sector has been more than 70 percent. Alan C. Lindquist, in a UNDP sponsored agriculture sector review, reported that while the ADB prepared "project completion reports upon completion of its projects" there was a "lack of completion of ADB projects in Bangladesh, even though some were begun ten years ago." In fact, he continued, "ADB-Dhaka was not able to show me a single project completion report for one of their water projects." Lindquist, citing another review of ADB water projects in Bangladesh, stated "only 3 out of the ADB projects attempted since 1973 have been completed and, on average, those took 72 percent longer to complete than projected."   Consultants, local and imported, have been the major beneficiaries of these projects. Since these were all "aided" projects, appointment of "donor" preferred foreign consultants has always been compulsory. Irrespective of qualification, consultant fees have been a significant share of the project costs. Another study showed that, "foreign consultants cost 6.8 to 25 times as much as local Bangladesh consultants, and 57 to 73 times as much as their BWDB counterparts." Often "aided" water sector projects have been considered by both local and foreign consultants/engineers/bureaucrats/suppliers as something highly desirable irrespective of relevance or results.   Hugh Brammer, associated with water sector projects in Bangladesh for a long time, wrote in 2002, that he witnessed an incident "where a chief engineer simply crossed out the word 'not' from the recommendation that certain soils were 'not suitable for irrigation' in the draft report on a detailed soil survey of a proposed irrigation project area. The authority was successful in obtaining funds from the donor to implement the project -- which was a disaster." He also observed that, "Bangladeshi consultants hired to carry out such surveys (and also project appraisals) were aware that 'happiness reports' were more likely to ensure their future business than strictly objective reports on their findings."   All these highly expensive huge structural measures could not save Bangladesh from disastrous floods in 1987 and again in 1988. Nevertheless, the water resources programmes were intensified and pursued with more rigour. The Bank continued to pursue similar projects. It went for a comprehensive programme to "control flood" and "water management."   After easy negotiations between local-global partners, the Bank gave birth to another big project of mass destruction (PMD): the Flood Action Plan which "would be the first step in the implementation of a comprehensive long-term programme for flood control and drainage in Bangladesh." According to the Bank, "embankments must be seen as elements of a comprehensive water control system planned and designed to modify the water regime in the interests of more profitable land use in an environmentally sound manner."   It is easy to see that the Bank always advocates structural solutions to the flood problems that involve huge costs. Expensive projects have always been preferred, probably because expensive projects ensure a nice windfall to the parties involved. In 1990, the Bank expressed its satisfaction with the impressive record of construction of the Bangladesh Water Development Board and its predecessor agency, with some 5,000 water control structures and over 6,000 km of embankment.   Subsequently, however, the Flood Action Plan was virtually abandoned in the face of criticism from home and abroad. But it was later replaced by the WARPO, which was basically the same programme under a new name. In 1998, another massive flood brought huge material loss and severe human sufferings. Again similar and bigger projects! And eventually we have now reached to 2004 flood.   A number of studies have examined the environmental impact of the water management projects. The beneficial effects were found to be: increased flood-free secured land for agriculture, livestock, settlement, industry, and infrastructure; all-year accessibility; higher rice yields in both wet and dry season; expansion of cropping areas and the extension of the cropping period due to improved drainage; opportunity for fish culture in ponds; and reduced hazards from extreme floods and tidal surges.   These beneficial effects, however, are often much lower in magnitude than the estimated benefits shown to justify the projects. Moreover, the benefit in project area in short term is not seen keeping long term effect in the area as well as in the area outside the project under consideration. Therefore, the benefits cost more per capita than shown in project proposals.   There are comparatively fewer studies to understand the costs and negative impact. Some studies found detrimental effects of those projects as follows: increased drainage problems behind embankments; reduced residual moisture in the dry season, especially on higher ground, hence reducing cropping options; deterioration of soil physical properties in water-logged areas; potentially greater loss of crops under conditions of extreme flooding and embankments failure; loss of formerly flooded habitats for major capture of fishery species; changes in hydrological regimes of remaining habitats; increased agrochemical runoff and contamination of surface waters; restriction of water-borne transportation by physical structures and siltation; increased depth of flooding, higher flood velocities and erosion of char and other unprotected active flood plains; loss of livestock grazing areas; increase in the incidence of diseases, such as cholera and malaria, as a result of reduced flushing of polluted water sources. There is no evidence of the global institutions who sponsored these projects accepting responsibility for all these detrimental effects. Not surprising. .[4]   Conclusion   Despite all that has been done to make a country of free-flowing abundant water into one that is water-logged, it seems that the water sector has become an increasingly more lucrative field for profit making investment of corporate bodies and beneficiaries. To them, projects are not meant to solve the problems which lead to disaster, but are a permanent system of monitoring and studying the phenomenon that give connected parties a permanent way of making wealth. Floods, just like poverty, give them immense opportunity to ensure fat lives at home and abroad.   Reference:   Kanbur, R. 2002, "International Financial Institutions and International Public Goods: Operational Implications for the World Bank," United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, New York and Geneva   Sklar L.  2005, Drowning in Aid: The World Bank and Bangladesh Flood Action Plan," [Online], Available: http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1993/04/mm0493_06.html   Arce M, Daniel G and Sandler T (2002). Regional Public Goods: Typologies, Provision, Financing and Development Assistance.   Almkvist and Wiksell International, Stockholm. Burnside C and Dollar D (2000). "Aid, Policies and Growth", American Economic Review, September, pp. 847–868.   Cornes R and Sandler T (1996). The Theory of Externalities, Public Goods and Club Goods, 2nd Edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.   Ferroni M and Mody A, eds. (2002). International Public Goods: Incentives, Measurement and Financing. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwell, MA.   Gerrard CD, Ferroni M and Mody A, eds. (2001). Global Public Policies and Programs: Implications for Financing and Evaluation. The World Bank, Washington DC.   Jayaraman R and Kanbur R (1999). "International Public Goods and the Case for Foreign Aid", in Kaul I, Grunberg I and Stern MA, eds., Global Public Goods: International Cooperation in the 21st Century, pp. 418–435. Oxford University Press, New York..   Kanbur R, Sandler T and Morrison K (1999). The Future of Development Assistance: Common Pools and International Public Goods. Johns Hopkins Press for the Overseas Development Council, Washington DC.   Kanbur R (2000). "Aid, Conditionality and Debt in Africa", in Tarp F, ed., Foreign Aid and Development: Lessons Learnt and Directions for the Future, pp. 409–422. Routledge, London.   Kanbur R (2001). "Cross Border Externalities, International Public Goods and Their Implications for Aid Agencies", Cornell working paper http://aem.cornell.edu//research/ researchpdf/wp0103.pdf.   Kaul I, Grunberg I and Stern MA, eds. (1999). Global Public Goods: International Cooperation in the 21st Century. Oxford University Press, New York.   Muhammad, A. 2004, "Projects of Mass Destruction" The Daily star, July 27, 2004, Vol. 5 Num 61, http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/07/27/d40727150196.htm   Sagasti F and Bezanson K (2001). Financing and Providing Global Public Goods: Expectations and Prospects. Fritzes Kundservice, Stockholm.   Sandler T (1998). "Global and Regional Public Goods: A Prognosis for Collective Action", Fiscal Studies, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 221–247.   Tarp F, ed. (2000). Foreign Aid and Development: Lessons Learnt and Directions for the Future. Routledge, London.   Wade R (2002). "US hegemony and the World Bank: The fight over people and ideas", Review of International Political Economy   Wilks A (2001). "Development Through the Looking Glass: the World Bank in Cyberspace", Paper prepared for the 6th Oxford Conference on Education and Development, Knowledge Values And Policy, September. http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org.   [1] http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/0,,contentMDK:20862815~pagePK:146736~piPK:146830~theSitePK:223547,00.html [2] http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1993/04/mm0493_06.html [3] http://www.asiandevbank.org/Documents/News/2002/nr2002225.asp [4] Muhammad, A. 2004, "Projects of Mass Destruction" The Daily star, July 27, 2004, Vol. 5 Num 61, http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/07/27/d40727150196.htm

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