Dredging of rivers to Rooppur

Dredging is an important course of action required to increase the depth of rivers and remove the unwanted deposits for safe passage of boats and ships

River routes from Chittagong and Mongla seaports to the proposed Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) site are yet to be dredged to deepen the watercourses to ferry heavy equipment for the nuclear plant. The government has planned to dredge the Chittagong-Mongla-Pakshi via the Chandpur-Mawa-Gualanda river route at a cost of Tk. 970 crore for unimpeded and smooth transportation of heavy equipments to the RNPP site through waterways. However, the project is yet to receive approval from the government or by the ECNEC.
The fact, however, once, the waterways are dredged for transporting machinery, equipment and raw-materials to the site – the dredging will have to be maintained throughout the year. The routes will have to be kept navigable by removing some 100 lakh cubic metres of silt from along the 110 kilometres long river routes in the very first year. Following this approximately some 35-45 lakh cubic metres of silt should be dredged every year under routine maintenance dredging. 
The million dollar question, nevertheless, - does the navy along with the BIWTA and other stakeholders together jointly have the capability or not? Also just the dredging cost alone every year will cost hundreds and hundreds of crores. Most importantly, what would happen to the remaining other dredging projects, namely meant for the Paira sea port that involves some 4000 crore taka worth of dredging of some seven rivers. 
Dredging is an important course of action required to increase the depth of rivers and remove the unwanted deposits for safe passage of boats and ships. But by its very nature, the act of dredging also alters the environment. Because of this, experts and green activists in Bangladesh and around the world are concerned about the geomorphic effects of dredging rivers flowing through the Sundarbans. Moreover, according to a number of experts – Dredging directly affects a river's composition, diversity and resiliency in a variety of ways. After a river is dredged, its banks usually become much prone to river erosion. Eroded banks will stimulate further build-up of silt, exacerbating rather than improving problems with navigation. Moreover, disturbance of bank vegetation caused by erosion will remove cover and shade. This will increase light penetration and hence water temperature, which will cause fish to migrate. Besides, loss of soils will disturb the habitat of river bank fauna.  
We believe the government’s concerned authorities - by now have analysed and evaluated all these facts and possibilities. Furthermore, we expect the navy and BIWTA to include more experts and foreign consultants in this massive dredging endeavour. If the need for dredging at such big-scale is imperative, then let it happen by following all precautionary measures and experts’ opinions.

 

Dredging of rivers to Rooppur

Dredging is an important course of action required to increase the depth of rivers and remove the unwanted deposits for safe passage of boats and ships

River routes from Chittagong and Mongla seaports to the proposed Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) site are yet to be dredged to deepen the watercourses to ferry heavy equipment for the nuclear plant. The government has planned to dredge the Chittagong-Mongla-Pakshi via the Chandpur-Mawa-Gualanda river route at a cost of Tk. 970 crore for unimpeded and smooth transportation of heavy equipments to the RNPP site through waterways. However, the project is yet to receive approval from the government or by the ECNEC. The fact, however, once, the waterways are dredged for transporting machinery, equipment and raw-materials to the site the dredging will have to be maintained throughout the year. The routes will have to be kept navigable by removing some 100 lakh cubic metres of silt from along the 110 kilometres long river routes in the very first year. Following this approximately some 35-45 lakh cubic metres of silt should be dredged every year under routine maintenance dredging. The million dollar question, nevertheless, - does the navy along with the BIWTA and other stakeholders together jointly have the capability or not? Also just the dredging cost alone every year will cost hundreds and hundreds of crores. Most importantly, what would happen to the remaining other dredging projects, namely meant for the Paira sea port that involves some 4000 crore taka worth of dredging of some seven rivers. Dredging is an important course of action required to increase the depth of rivers and remove the unwanted deposits for safe passage of boats and ships. But by its very nature, the act of dredging also alters the environment. Because of this, experts and green activists in Bangladesh and around the world are concerned about the geomorphic effects of dredging rivers flowing through the Sundarbans. Moreover, according to a number of experts Dredging directly affects a rivers composition, diversity and resiliency in a variety of ways. After a river is dredged, its banks usually become much prone to river erosion. Eroded banks will stimulate further build-up of silt, exacerbating rather than improving problems with navigation. Moreover, disturbance of bank vegetation caused by erosion will remove cover and shade. This will increase light penetration and hence water temperature, which will cause fish to migrate. Besides, loss of soils will disturb the habitat of river bank fauna. We believe the governments concerned authorities - by now have analysed and evaluated all these facts and possibilities. Furthermore, we expect the navy and BIWTA to include more experts and foreign consultants in this massive dredging endeavour. If the need for dredging at such big-scale is imperative, then let it happen by following all precautionary measures and experts opinions.