Planning adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud on Sunday said the prospect of a project on the trans-boundary river Teesta with Chinese assistance remains uncertain without an assessment of water availability from upstream India.
The government is yet to have an exact blueprint of the Teesta river project although China has expressed willingness to help, he told 抖阴精品.
Without an assessment of how much water will be available from the upstream, there remains much uncertainty in designing such a project,鈥� he said.
Earlier on the day, the planning adviser said the fate of the much-talked-about river management project is uncertain without assistance from India while replying to a question about if there is any update on the much-talked-about project in which China has been showing a keen interest.
He was talking to reporters after a meeting of the executive committee of the National Economic Council at the planning commission auditorium in the city鈥檚 Agargaon area.
He said discussions regarding the proposed project titled 鈥楾eesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project is at a primary level and confined to the policy level.
The ministry of water resources has been working on the proposed project since 2016 against the backdrop of the country鈥檚 northern region suffering flash floods in the rainy season and drought in the winter due to unilateral withdrawals of water by India from the Teesta.
The over 400-km-long Himalayan river entered Bangladesh through its northern district Lalmonirhat after travelling some 305 km through the Indian states of聽Sikkim聽and聽West Bengal.
Dhaka has long been demanding a greater share of the Teesta waters for a higher flow in its portion of the river during December and May when the water level sharply goes down, creating difficulties for the farmers in the northern region.
A 50:50 water-sharing formula was agreed to by Delhi in 2011 but a treaty in this regard is yet to be signed despite repeated requests from Dhaka.
The planning adviser noted that there is no concrete plan adopted on the Chinese willingness for the proposed Teesta project because of no assessment of the water available from the upstream.
鈥楴o plan has been prepared for a maximum utilisation of the existing Teesta waters by building reservoirs or storing water,鈥� he said, adding that China has provided a preliminary plan.
But the plan remains stuck at the initial stage, he noted.
Noting that Beijing is willing to provide technical and financial assistances for the water management project, the planning adviser said a feasibility study is imperative in this regard.
鈥楢 feasibility study is yet to be carried out in this regard,鈥� he said.
Flash floods have been common in about half a dozen districts of Bangladesh, including Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha, Nilphamari, Kurigram and Rangpur, as the Teesta flows above danger levels due to heavy onrush of waters from the upstream when all 54 flood gates of the Gajaldoba Barrage in India are opened.
Commissioned by India in 1996, the Gajaldoba Barrage in West Bengal reportedly diverts up to 85 per cent of the Teesta waters flow in the winter through a link canal to the upper Mahananda River.
India has built four other major dams on the Teesta at Dikchu and Chungthang in Sikkim and at Kalimpong and Kalijhora in West Bengal.
The Bangladesh Water Development Board, which built the Teesta Barrage in Nilphamari in 1998 for irrigation in the lean period, appointed the Power Construction Corporation of China, Powerchina in short, in 2016 to conduct a feasibility study on the 鈥楾eesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project.鈥�
By 2020, Powerchina prepared a preliminary development project proposal aimed at upgrading the socio-economic status of the Rangpur region by establishing new economic growth points along both banks of the Teesta River by preventing floods and removing slits from the river bed.
The ministry of water resources is, however, yet to send a project proposal to planning commission in this regard.
Water ministry secretary Nazmul Ahsan admitted to the fact but did not give any specific reason for why such a proposal was not yet sent to the planning commission.
He only said he needed time to be updated.
In February, Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen said that China was aware of the hardship of people living on the Teesta banks and wanted the planned development project on the trans-boundary river to start soon.
Addressing a media briefing at the Chinese embassy in Dhaka, he said China was ready to provide assistance in the implementation of the project, which was still hanging in the balance for them as India showed its willingness to support the same during the Sheikh Hasina government in the past year.
During the last year of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, Delhi expressed its willingness to support a mega development project on the Teesta inside Bangladesh.
In June 2024, India announced that it would send a technical team to Bangladesh to discuss 鈥榗onservation and management of the Teesta River in Bangladesh鈥� as the bilateral talks between Hasina and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, then her Indian counterpart, ended in New Delhi without any breakthrough in the long-pending water-sharing deal on the common river.
