30 March 2007
The OED’s decision to include Khulna-Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project (KJDRP) in its 2007-2009 work-plan constitutes the first victory in the campaign to ensure the approach taken to manage drainage is not repeated in other ADB-funded projects in the region.
Uttaran, Bangladesh
Navigating waters
The ADB’s Operation Evaluation Department (OED) has begun an
evaluation of the Khulna-Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project in
March 2007. Civil society organizations (CSOs) from Bangladesh and
international NGOs had been pushing for a review of this project by the
ADB for many months given its continuing adverse impacts on communities
in the Southwest coastal region and their natural environment.
The OED’s decision to include KJDRP in its 2007-2009 work-plan
constitutes the first victory in the campaign to ensure the approach
taken to manage drainage is not repeated in other ADB-funded projects
in the region. This is an important concern given the on-going
Southwest Area Integrated Planning and Water Management Project which
also focuses on flood management and drainage.[1]
The OED initiated its evaluation on March 13, 2007. Given the
current political situation in Bangladesh where civil society activists
are under immense scrutiny and many have been jailed, a March start had
been resisted by some civil society organizations monitoring KJDRP.[2]
However, the ADB contended that if it did not embark on its mission in
the Spring, possible elections and the current political situation
could further delay its mission in commencing the evaluation.
The March visit includes visits to the project-affected area,
interviews with various stakeholders including the government, and
hiring consultants to conduct a survey. Bangladeshi CSOs,
Uttaran, Pani Committee and Coastal Development Partnership (CDP),
jointly organized a meeting with the ADB mission to allow CSOs who have
monitored and advocated on KJDRP to share their perspectives and
experiences regarding project impacts. The meeting was held on
March 24th. Notwithstanding the meeting, there is still an
underlying concern that affected people will find it difficult to
provide candid comments for the evaluation in the prevailing political
climate. However, local CSOs are continuing their effort to amplify the
concerns of project affected people given that the ADB has commenced
its evaluation.
Background
The KJDR Project was approved by the ADB on 14 December 1993.
Project completion, slated for December 1999, was delayed by almost 4
years due to the adoption of a new drainage design mid-way.[3]
The total cost of the project was $44.9 million or 72% of the appraisal
estimate of $62 million. ADB contributed $32.6 million (70%) of
the actual project costs.
BanglaPraxis, Bangladesh
Staying Dry?
The KJDRP has been highly controversial in Bangladesh.
According to the ADB’s Project Completion Report (PCR, 2004), project
outputs were satisfactory.[4]
This claim is heavily disputed by local and national civil society
organizations such as BanglaPraxis, Bhabhadah People’s Struggle
Committee, Coastal Development Partnership, Pani Committee and Uttaran,
among others. They fault the ADB for creating an ecological
disaster by funding a project which, on the one hand, inundated several
hundred hectares of land and on the other hand, caused rivers to dry
up. They believe the project has deprived local people of their
livelihood and forced them to live in inhuman conditions.[5]
The main objectives of the Project were to reduce poverty by
increasing agricultural production and creating farming jobs in the
project area. The project area spreads over eight upazilas (districts) of Khulna and Jessore, covering about 100,600 hectares (ha).[6]
Farm productivity was to be raised by improving the river basin
drainage system through the construction of a series of sluice gates
and regulators on rivers to protect the beels (wetland) area
from tidal and seasonal floods. Local communities however felt that
controlling tidal flows through sluice gates would not be feasible as
the heavy siltation (a natural characteristic of the rivers in this
region of Bangladesh) will make the sluices and regulators redundant.
They instead suggested the use of a local method called jowar-bhata khelano
(free play of tidal flow) as the alternative plan. Referred to as
Tidal River Management (TRM), this method allows tidal flow into the
wetland basin and releases the tidal flow back to the river. As a
result of this process, sediments carried by the tidal flow are
deposited on the wetland basin instead of the riverbed. This process
may continue for several years (usually three years, though the
duration depends on the size of the wetland basin). The TRM prevents
sediment accretion on the riverbed and ensures drainage of excess water
during monsoons. It also creates better navigation in river
channels. However, the ADB ignored these alternatives, according
to the CSOs, and opted for an engineering-based solution for the
project.
Whose Version of Tidal River Management (TRM)?
During the implementation of the KJDRP, local people remained
skeptical of the project and demanded a complete environmental impact
assessment (EIA) and social impact assessment (SIA).[7] During the EIA and SIA consultations conducted by Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS),[8] local people called for the adoption of their idea of TRM.[9]
Convinced of this approach, CEGIS recommended TRM as a
technically sound, economically viable, environment friendly
alternative. However, CSOs alleged that the people’s concept of TRM was
different from the TRM implemented by the executing agency.[10]
Consequently, the Bhabhadah People’s Struggle Committee (a coordination
committee of people residing in water logged areas) campaigned to
mitigate the water logging problem in the project areas. They prepared
an alternative emergency drainage proposal and compelled the government
to implement some of its components.
Uttaran, Bangladesh
A flooded neighbourhood
Given all of the above, the ADB’s claim that together with the
Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB)-one of the executing agencies
of the project- it quickly responded to beneficiaries and adopted a TRM
approach is not accurate. In reality, the TRM was not adopted until
1999, after the completion of a TRM feasibility study. This was five
years after project approval.[11]
NGO sources say that project authorities partially implemented the TRM system in beel
Kedaria in a manner that did not allow for the open flow of tide in the
wetland thus causing the creation of a permanent wetland.[12]
Project Outcome
According to CSOs, the KJDRP did not achieve its objectives of
increased agriculture output and livelihoods, but rather created more
social and environmental problems in the area. For instance, they
contend that the project resulted in more water logging in Northwest
area (Jessore) of the project, worsening the existing drainage problem
as the Hamkura River dried up. They also claim that KJDRP
contributed to the extinction of local fisheries and loss of livelihood
of local fisher-folks. Even the PCR states that project
implementation delays could have been reduced considerably if the
beneficiaries’ demand for the TRM system had been appreciated earlier.
A Writ Petition was filed on 13 August, 2006, by the Bangladesh
Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) and the Bangladesh Legal Aid
and Services Trust (BLAST) seeking appropriate judicial intervention to
address the sufferings of more than one lakh people in 144 villages of
the three upazilas of Abhaynagar, Manirampur and Keshabpur of
Jessore. Following the motion hearing, a division bench of the High
Court has directed the concerned authorities to provide all such
services, products, goods and other supports within their means that
are required to ensure that the people of the affected villages of the
three upazillas are safely located and are receiving food, water, medicine and other essentials during periods that water logging occurs.[13]
BanglaPraxis, Bangladesh
Walking through a flooded street
Now, the OED has agreed to review the project’s performance in 2007
after a constructive campaign from CSOs. The Operation and
Evaluation Mission (OEM) of the ADB has shown an interest in a one-day
workshop in the affected area to hear from communities and CSOs of the
area.[14] However, it remains to be seen whether an effective evaluation can take place under the current political situation.
Note: This update was prepared by Bank Information Center with
comments from Coastal Development Partnership. We are
thankful to CDP for reviewing an earlier draft.
Additional Resources
For ADB documents on the KJDRP, see:
For CSO perspectives on the KJDRP, see:
- Of
Deception and Destruction: Social and Environmental Impacts of
ADB-Financed Khulna Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project (KJDRP) in
Southwest Coastal Region in Bangladesh. Zakir Kibria in: Untold Realities, NGO-Forum on ADB, Manila, 2006
- People’s Voice on IFIs, Fact Sheet, CDP, Bangladesh, September 2005.
- Peoples Voice on ADB Projects in South West Coastal Region of Bangladesh, CDP, Bangladesh, 2006.
Footnotes
[1]See http://www.adb.org/Projects/project.asp?id=34418
[2] http://bicusa.org/en/Article.3128.aspx
[3] The ADB Project Completion Report on KJDRP, 2004: http://www.adb.org/Documents/PCRs/BAN/pcr-ban-21087.pdf
[4] Ibid.
[5]
People’s Voice on IFIs, Fact Sheet, CDP, Bangladesh, September 2005.
And also see Zakir Kibria, Impact of Asian Development Bank (ADB)
investment in the Water Sector in Bangladesh ,http://adb.org/Water/Policy/consultations/NGO-FORUM-BAN.pdf
[6] ADB Project Completion Report on KJDRP, 2004.
[7]Zakir Kibria, in Untold Realities, NGO-Forum on ADB, Manila, 2006 (http://www.forum-adb.org/pub/Untold%20Realities/Untold%20Realities.pdf
[8] Earlier known as EGIS
[9]
In 1997, EGIS was approached by the Ministry of Water Resources for an
independent Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Study (EIA/SIA)
of the project. Source: EGIS Report on the study Environmental and Social Impact Assessment of KJDRP, http://www.cegisbd.com/products.htm
[10] Zakir Kibria, in Untold Realities, NGO-Forum on ADB, Manila, 2006 (http://www.forum-adb.org/pub/Untold%20Realities/Untold%20Realities.pdf
[11] ADB Project Completion Report, 2004, p. 5.
[12] Zakir Kibria, in Untold Realities, NGO-Forum on ADB, Manila, 2006 (http://www.forum-adb.org/pub/Untold%20Realities/Untold%20Realities.pdf
[13]Press release, High Court Intervenes in Addressing Water Logging in Jessore,
http://bhobodoho.blogspot.com/2006/11/here-is-press-release-regarding-this.html
[14] OEM of the ADB, Personal Communication (email), Feb 8, 2007.