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Abstract
Bangladesh is a country of limited resources. The present population is 130 million, having an area of 147,570 km2. The current population density of 849 people per km2is already the highest of any nation other than the tiny city-states. The country is basically a delta formed by the alluvial deposits of three mighty rivers: the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna, it has a complex river network of about 230 rivers occupying about 6% of the area. An important feature of the rivers is that 57 are cross boundary, coming from India and Myanmar. These river systems drain a catchment of about 1.72 million km2 , out of which only 7% is located in Bangladesh. Rests 93% of the catchment situated outside in China, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. Bangladesh has been suffering from the twin problem of ‘floods and droughts’ for centuries.
Initially the Zamindars constructed low dikes and wooden box sluices and maintained them for protection against saline water intrusion and floods. Unofficially the Zamindars have continued this maintenance job even though they were relieved from that duty when the British ruler abolished the Zamindary system. In absence of Zamindar’s initiative, the local farmers often started to make bunds themselves, which were technically poor and insufficient. After taking over the works by the Government more attention was given to the construction of polders. Lack of technical know how and financial constraints hampered the polderisation. Polder construction has increased the scale of production and introduced hopes for further development.
Large-scale land and water development schemes began in the early 1950s. At that time, after several years of studies, a team of United Nations (UN) experts proposed the Ganges-Kobadak Project lying in the greater districts of Kushtia, Jessore and Khulna. After the country had suffered from unprecedented floods in 1954 and 1955, a flood commission was constituted by the Government to look into the problems and to advise on remedial measures. Subsequently, they obtained the services of a UN Technical Assistance Mission in 1956, a team of experts on water resources management, known as the Krug Mission. This Mission submitted the ‘Krug Mission report’ in 1957 after a detailed review of the gigantic problems associated with the flooding. Based on the recommendations of the Krug Mission, the East Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (EPWAPDA) was created in 1959 for the unified and co-ordinated development of the water and power resources in the present Bangladesh. This authority, with the help of the International Engineering Company Inc. (IECO), prepared a Master Plan for water resources development in 1964. This plan marked the beginning towards the formulation of an integrated plan for flood control and development of the water resources of the country. In the Master Plan the limited available hydrological data were presented and recommended actions were emphasising on systematic and scientific hydrological data collection and processing.
The Master Plan included a portfolio of 58 land and water development projects including 3 barrages on major rivers for implementation spread over 20 years, beginning in 1965. These projects envisaged flood protection for 5.8 million ha of land.
