Severe erosion has struck more than 20 kilometres of the Baleshwar River flood protection embankment in Sidr-ravaged Sharankhola Upazila of Bagerhat.
According to local sources, at least eleven sections of CC blocks have collapsed, causing breaches in the main embankment. Due to flaws in the feasibility study and construction, and the failure to carry out river training, the embankment has now become highly vulnerable.
The current state of the embankment has revived harrowing memories among residents living along the Baleshwar in Sharankhola, recalling that dreadful night of Cyclone Sidr. Locals lament that, even 17 years after Sidr, they are still having to worry about the embankment. Days are passing in constant fear for people living on the Baleshwar’s banks.
Almost nine years after Sidr, a 62-kilometre raised embankment was constructed under Water Development Board polder 35/1 at a cost of nearly Tk 300 crore, funded by the World Bank. Of this, around 20 kilometres of embankment were built along vulnerable stretches of the Baleshwar River, from Bogi in Sharankhola’sSouthkhali Union to the boundary with Morrelganj upazila.
According to enquiries, work on the embankment under the Bangladesh Water Development Board’s Coastal Embankment Improvement Project (CEIP-1) began on 26 January 2016. A Chinese contractor, CHWE, implemented the project. Although the work was supposed to be completed in three years, various delays meant it took almost seven. After completion, the contractor handed the embankment over to the Bagerhat Water Development Board on 14 December 2023. Yet in less than two years since handover, the structure has already suffered extensive damage.
Residents of riverbank villages—Mizan Hawladar of Gabtala, Almagir Hossain and Jahangir Khan of South Southkhali, and Anwar Hawladar of North Southkhali—said they lost relatives during Sidr because there was no durable embankment. Their homes and all their belongings were swept away. In exchange for their lives and property, they had demanded a strong, high embankment. Although a higher embankment has been built, they say it is not durable. Because the river was not trained before construction, erosion began within a year. They warn that unless river training is carried out immediately, the embankment could collapse completely within two to three years.
Sharankhola upazila BNP president Anwar Hossain Panchayet said a sustainable embankment is impossible without river training. He alleged that the then government and the World Bank showed a lack of foresight by not including river training in the project design. He further claimed that large-scale corruption took place, with river sand being used instead of proper soil. As a result, the embankment is higher but not durable. He urged the present government to investigate the alleged corruption and to protect the embankment through proper river training.
Abdullah Al Mamun, executive engineer of the Bagerhat Water Development Board, said initial work has begun to prevent erosion along roughly 1,000 metres of the most vulnerable sections. Around 700 metres in the Bogi area of Sharankhola will be reinforced with sand-filled geo-bags and CC blocks, while sand-filled geo-bags will be dumped at the Fasiatala stretch near the Morrelganj boundary.
On 15 November 2007, devastating Cyclone Sidr battered the coast. The storm surge turned Sharankhola in Bagerhat into a valley of death, killing over a thousand people. Residents there still cannot forget the horror of that night. Within moments, the powerful surge swept away homes, livestock, trees and standing crops. Bodies lay everywhere, and the wails of bereaved families echoed all around.
Because there was no sustainable embankment, the fragile structure then in place gave way under Sidr’s onslaught, allowing the Baleshwar River’s tidal surge to reduce Sharankhola to rubble.
