Bangladesh Economic & Infrastructure Development - Updates & Discussions
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Bilal9
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One of the noteworthy centers of wood processing CNC machinery locally is Wood Tech Solutions in KeraniGanj. They have a ToT arrangement with Italian manufacturers and assemble and offer many automated CNC Woodworking machinery. They also offer branded foreign machinery and also offer training in operating these to the burgeoning sector of local furniture exporters.
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F-6 enthusiast
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Its happening
Govt undertakes Teesta development project worth Tk85b: Commerce minister (tbsnews.net)
85B BDT ~ 1B USD
Govt undertakes Teesta development project worth Tk85b: Commerce minister (tbsnews.net)
85B BDT ~ 1B USD
Bilal9
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OK good that they started it, however the benefit of this one Billion dollar project is still not clear to me.
@bluesky bhai and I discussed it in great detail some weeks ago. Don't know if you had a look at that thread.
@bluesky bhai says it is a "beautification project" and I have to agree from what I have seen.
If Indians shut down Teesta water at the border upstream, we are net/net loser anyways, regardless of our barrage downstream.
These ba$tards don't give us advance notice of shutoffs anyhow...
The barrage is where the Teesta meets the Brahmaputra I think.
This is Indian narrative..
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Summary:
India and Bangladesh share 54 common streams with the Teesta being a major one and the water sharing dispute between the two neighbours is not something new. However, sharing the waters of the Teesta river, which originates in the Himalayas and flows through Sikkim and West Bengal to merge with the Brahmaputra in Assam and (Jamuna in Bangladesh), is perhaps the most contentious issue between two friendly neighbours, India and Bangladesh.
Key facts:
- Teesta is the fourth largest transboundary river shared between India and Bangladesh, after the Ganges, Brahmaputra and the Meghna (GBM) river system.
- The total catchment area of the GBM is about 1.75 million square km.
- The Teesta originates in the Indian state of Sikkim and its total length is 414 km, out of which 151 km lie in Sikkim, 142 kms flow along the Sikkim-West Bengal boundary and through West Bengal, and 121 km run in Bangladesh.
What’s the issue?
It all began when West Bengal started constructing a barrage across the Teesta River. Bangladesh opposed the construction as few regions in the country were dependent only Teesta River water for agriculture.
- However, after negotiation, an ad-hoc agreement was reached. As per the agreement, 36% of water of the Teesta flows was allocated to Bangladesh, 39% to India and a further 25 % remained unallocated.
- But even this deal has remained pending for more than 2 decades. After many unsuccessful attempts to reach a consensus on the issue, a new bilateral interim deal was to be signed in 2011 to reach an equitable sharing of the water. But it was once again put on hold as the chief minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee opposed the deal.
- Later, in 2013, an agreement was drafted which allowed for the 50:50 allocation of teesta waters between the countries during the lean season, when the real problems of allocation crop up. However, that was not acceptable.
- The flow of the river is crucial for Bangladesh from December to March for that they require 50% of the river’s water supply. While India claims a share of 55%.
Efforts to solve the issue:
A Joint River Commission was setup to resolve all outstanding water sharing disputes between the two countries. However, no pragmatic and long-term solution could come out and Teesta remained a problematic issue.
- India has been examining many parameters for arriving at a workable solution. A possible option considered was that — since the regeneration of flow in the river channel between the Gajoldoba and Dalia barrages is about 25%, which would be available at the downstream barrage — the additional 25% demanded by Bangladesh could be released by West Bengal from the upstream barrage.
- But the state had its own compulsions for meeting irrigation needs as the summer flows are generally erratic. Hence, West Bengal did not want to commit to releasing water from the upstream barrage, at the cost of its major project envisaging the irrigation of 9.22 lakh hectares in the ultimate stage.
- Thus, the water-sharing arrangement got embroiled in domestic hydro-politics, stalling further action to find an acceptable solution to the dispute.
Importance of Teesta for Bangladesh:
The river is Bangladesh’s fourth largest transboundary river for irrigation and fishing. The Teesta’s floodplain covers 2,750sq km in Bangladesh. Of the river’s catchment – an area of land where water collects – 83 percent is in India and 17 percent is in Bangladesh.
- That means more than one lakh hectares of land across five districts in Bangladesh are severely affected by withdrawals of the Teesta’s waters in India. These five Bangladesh districts then face acute shortages during the dry season.
- Bangladesh wants 50% of the Teesta’s waters between December and May every year, because that’s when the water flow to the country drops drastically.
West Bengal’s opposition:
West Bengal has been opposing the treaty fearing that the loss of higher volume of water to the lower riparian would cause problems in the northern region of state, especially during drier months. It is estimated that the Teesta River has a mean annual flow of 60 billion cubic metres but a significant amount of this water flows only during wet season i.e. between June and September, leaving scant flow during the dry season i.e. October to April/May wherein the average flow gets reduced to about 500 million cubic metres (MCM) per month. This creates issues of equitable sharing during lean season.
Why this deal matters for both India and Bangladesh?
India witnessed a surge in insurgency in the northeast during the rule of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) from 2001 to 2005. A new policy to befriend the BNP backfired. Bangladesh allegedly sheltered insurgents engaged in anti-India activities, and nearly all the Home Ministry-level talks ended without agreement, and India had to increase the security budget for the northeast.
- In a couple of years of assuming office in 2008, the Awami League targeted insurgent camps and handed over the rebels to India. As India’s security establishment heaved a sigh of relief, the relationship improved on multiple fronts.
- But in 2017, the Awami League is on a sticky wicket. It will be facing one of its toughest elections in two years and water-sharing will be one of the key issues. If this deal is not sealed, it will hurt both India and Bangladesh.
What can be done?
It is apparent that to make Teesta water-sharing a reality, there is a need to augment the river flows during the non-monsoon months, without which West Bengal would not allow further discussion on the subject. The deficit in flows can be met by the transfer of water from other water-endowed basins. In this connection, the proposals made in the Indian River Linking (IRL) project could be considered.
- The Manas-Sankosh-Teesta-Ganga (MSTG) link canal is one of the links proposed under the Himalayan component of the IRL. It envisages diversion of the surplus waters of the Manas and Sankosh rivers to the Teesta, Ganga and beyond, to meet the requirements of water-deficit areas. By making suitable provisions in the link canal, it should be possible to release the required water into the Teesta during the summer to augment river flows, thus meeting the requirements being proposed for water-sharing with Bangladesh.
- Also, another suggestion is the construction of giant artificial reservoirs, where the monsoon water can be stored for the lean season. The reservoirs need to be built in India as the country has some mountain-induced sites favourable to hosting dams with reservoirs, unlike Bangladesh.
Conclusion:
The success of the deal on the Teesta is considered to be a political necessity for both governments. The deal, as anticipated, will help New Delhi get more political leverage, which, it thinks, is necessary to check the rising influence of an extra regional power – China – in the Bay of Bengal region. For Hasina, the deal will support her chances to retain political power in the 2018 general elections in Bangladesh by projecting her as a leader who can secure her country’s interests and not a ‘pawn’ in the hands of India, as she is being often called by opposition groups.
Bangladesh has been one of India’s strongest allies in South Asia. And if New Delhi wants it to remain so, it has to move fast on signing an agreement on sharing the waters of the Teesta river.
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its very important , lot more than just a dam, many industrial projects and factories to be set up. Money to be saved.
Plus the added benefit of sending the jeets in dehli blood pressure to the moon
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Bold part: No, the present barrage is about 80 km north of Brahmaputra Junction. This was a wrong location. But, why? It is because this barrage can only contain water in its north which is roughly 13 km in length.
And I have not read news that says another Barrage is to be built at its mouth before falling into the Brahmaputra. So, you may ask what the govt planning. I always say that it is a beautification project and not an IRRIGATION project.
A Barrage must be built at the Teesta mouth that will contain water in a length of about 80 km. But the govt has no such plan and I can see there is none because only $1 billion is certainly not sufficient to build such a gigantic barrage.
The Chinese govt knows this new project will be another good-for-nothing project. However, it is not the duty of the Chinese govt to decide the matter on behalf of the GoB. So, it will send its construction companies and beautify the Teesta as per GoB planning.
Chinese companies will come, construct the project, and take back much of the money to their homeland. China usually does not interfere with the concept prepared by another country.
It was the same with an SL port. Chinese knew this port would be a losing project. Nevertheless, it extended money to SL and SL cannot pay back the money now.
BD will get a project done that will have two distinctly opposite effects:
1) The project, if done properly with the provisions of sluice gates and high dikes along the two banks, will remove many causes of the yearly floods
2) However, it cannot retain much water for use during the winter droughts. Why? It is because since there is no barrage at the mouth, therefore, during and after a rainy season most of the water will fall into the Brahmaputra/ Jamuna river and to the BoB.
This project will be another waste of money the same as the current barrage. Please guys, do not ridicule me for talking my mind. I request all to come up with proper logic and reasoning. Tell me where I am wrong?
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Bilal9
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Not really keen on travelling by bus, but luxury bus sector has seen a few changes locally with very luxurious triple axle double decker sleeper coaches introduced on longer length trips. Some of these (double axle sleeper coaches) are also made locally in most cases.
Bilal9
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This is a place for export-oriented Software Development, Back Office and Electronics manufacturing companies. Probably more of the first two (software) rather than hardware.
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