Gorai River Dredging

New project taken up at Tk 969 crore

Auditors find irregularities in earlier work completed 10 months ago spending Tk 550cr

The government has taken up a Tk 969-crore project within 10 months of dredging the River Gorai by spending Tk 550 crore to restore the river in Kushtia and take the sweet water flow of the Padma to help the Sundarbans combat salinity intrusion. Against the backdrop of a 6–7 feet average siltation in River Gorai, the Bangladesh Water Development Board (WDB) completed dredging a 30-km stretch of the river in June 2017 at a cost of Tk 550 crore only to submit a third dredging DPP of Tk 969 crore, allegedly to milk money out of the government exchequer. Meanwhile, a team of government auditors have found huge monetary irregularities in the Gorai River Restoration Project Phase II.

The audit department has found irregularities amounting to Tk 18.19 crore in the procurement of two sets of low quality discharge pipes of 50mm diameter, and the spending of Tk 54.55 crore despite the non-achievement of 99 per cent dredging work as per the DPP (development project profile).

The audit department had issued a letter to Gorai river project director Md Kudrat (now on pre-retirement leave), signed by deputy director Jebun Nesa Haider on July 23 last year.

The letter asked the project director to submit relevant documents before the audit department against money suspected to have been spent illegally by breaching the DPP rules during the 2014–15 fiscal year. The government had awarded the dredging work to the China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) in December 2010.

The local people allege that the CHEC did not dredge the river properly, leaving a vast area on both sides of the river vulnerable to erosion during the monsoon. Besides, the dredged section of the river is again filling up with the silt, local people say. Haripur Union Parishad’s former chairman Mostaq Hossain Masud alleges the CHEC did not dredge the river as per specification. Many areas of Mohanagar, Sukhdip Pur and Gopinath Pur have been eroded due to the unplanned dredging of the Gorai, he said.

Local people also allege that there have been gross irregularities in the use of public money by a section of WDB officials involved in the dredging project. “Siltation will be there in the river every year. We have to continue our maintenance dredging to remove silt each year to keep the river flowing uninterrupted,” Md Moniruzzaman, superintendent engineer of the WDB Kushtia circle told The Independent.

Regarding audit objections, he said, “Mr Kudrat was the project director during 2014–15 fiscal year. The former project director, Kudrat, is an honest man. The auditors visited with a motive!”

The third DPP of Tk 969 crore for Gorai was submitted to the Planning Commission in December last year,” he said, adding, “only a pre-appraisal meeting has been held so far. An inter-ministerial committee is scheduled to visit the site on Friday. The fate of the project depends on the report of the committee.”

This reporter repeatedly tried to contact former project director Kudrat for his comment, but he did not respond to the phone calls or to SMS sent to his cell phone. The China-based CHEC, which implemented the project, left the country in June 2017 after completing the work. The company currently does not have any local agent or office in Bangladesh. Earlier, the WDB had dredged the Gorai at a cost of Tk 10.6 crore under the Gorai River Restoration Project Phase-I, which ended in November 2009.

But there were allegations that the first phase of the project had failed to yield the desired benefits due to massive corruption.

Gorai River Dredging

New project taken up at Tk 969 crore

Auditors find irregularities in earlier work completed 10 months ago spending Tk 550cr

The government has taken up a Tk 969-crore project within 10 months of dredging the River Gorai by spending Tk 550 crore to restore the river in Kushtia and take the sweet water flow of the Padma to help the Sundarbans combat salinity intrusion. Against the backdrop of a 67 feet average siltation in River Gorai, the Bangladesh Water Development Board (WDB) completed dredging a 30-km stretch of the river in June 2017 at a cost of Tk 550 crore only to submit a third dredging DPP of Tk 969 crore, allegedly to milk money out of the government exchequer. Meanwhile, a team of government auditors have found huge monetary irregularities in the Gorai River Restoration Project Phase II. The audit department has found irregularities amounting to Tk 18.19 crore in the procurement of two sets of low quality discharge pipes of 50mm diameter, and the spending of Tk 54.55 crore despite the non-achievement of 99 per cent dredging work as per the DPP (development project profile). The audit department had issued a letter to Gorai river project director Md Kudrat (now on pre-retirement leave), signed by deputy director Jebun Nesa Haider on July 23 last year. The letter asked the project director to submit relevant documents before the audit department against money suspected to have been spent illegally by breaching the DPP rules during the 201415 fiscal year. The government had awarded the dredging work to the China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) in December 2010. The local people allege that the CHEC did not dredge the river properly, leaving a vast area on both sides of the river vulnerable to erosion during the monsoon. Besides, the dredged section of the river is again filling up with the silt, local people say. Haripur Union Parishads former chairman Mostaq Hossain Masud alleges the CHEC did not dredge the river as per specification. Many areas of Mohanagar, Sukhdip Pur and Gopinath Pur have been eroded due to the unplanned dredging of the Gorai, he said. Local people also allege that there have been gross irregularities in the use of public money by a section of WDB officials involved in the dredging project. Siltation will be there in the river every year. We have to continue our maintenance dredging to remove silt each year to keep the river flowing uninterrupted, Md Moniruzzaman, superintendent engineer of the WDB Kushtia circle told The Independent. Regarding audit objections, he said, Mr Kudrat was the project director during 201415 fiscal year. The former project director, Kudrat, is an honest man. The auditors visited with a motive! The third DPP of Tk 969 crore for Gorai was submitted to the Planning Commission in December last year, he said, adding, only a pre-appraisal meeting has been held so far. An inter-ministerial committee is scheduled to visit the site on Friday. The fate of the project depends on the report of the committee. This reporter repeatedly tried to contact former project director Kudrat for his comment, but he did not respond to the phone calls or to SMS sent to his cell phone. The China-based CHEC, which implemented the project, left the country in June 2017 after completing the work. The company currently does not have any local agent or office in Bangladesh. Earlier, the WDB had dredged the Gorai at a cost of Tk 10.6 crore under the Gorai River Restoration Project Phase-I, which ended in November 2009. But there were allegations that the first phase of the project had failed to yield the desired benefits due to massive corruption.