For third time, ECNEC approves revised key canal excavation project to ease Chattogram waterlogging

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council, or ECNEC, has greenlighted a revised project of Tk 13.62 billion to excavate an important canal in Chattogram city to mitigate its decade-long waterlogging crisis during monsoon.

The approval came at a meeting of the panel at the NEC Conference Room in Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chaired the meeting virtually from Ganabhaban.

On June 24 2014, ECNEC approved the excavation of a 2.9 km-long canal from Baroipara to the Karnaphuli at Tk 3.62 billion to be implemented by the Chattogram City Corporation, or CCC. The project was scheduled to be completed by 2017.

The CCC, however, could not even start the project as ministries had failed to disburse the allocated funds.

In November 2017, the top national economic panel reconsidered the project and increased the project budget to Tk 12.56 billion. It was rescheduled to be completed by 2020. Of the Tk 12.56 billion, the CCC was supposed to pitch in with 25 percent funds.

After four years, the development project was inaugurated on Nov 27 last year. Although the duration of the project has been extended until 2024, the physical work has not started due to the land not being acquired.

The ECNEC on Tuesday, however, decided that the total expenditure of the project will come from the state coffer.

For decades, the city has been experiencing extreme levels of waterlogging during monsoons in early June and July. The downpour submerges residential areas and the country's biggest wholesale commodity market at Khatunganj.

In 2019, a joint survey by UNDP and National Resilience Programme under Planning Commission estimated the cost of damage inflicted by waterlogging in Chattogram to be Tk 25.17 billion in the last decade alone, which affected over 5,000 businesses.