The hazards of safety

The hazards of safety
Mushfique Wadud finds out from experts whether the construction and maintenance of embankments in the country is appropriate for fighting floods, while also reflecting on the long-term environmental hazards

Mohammad Islam/DrikNEWS

On July 17, the hard point of the Sirajganj town protection embankment caved in, the second collapse in a week. The first collapse took place on July 10, this year.

Despite being built only 12 years back, between 1995 and 1999 by the Hyundai Corporation at a cost of Tk 332 crore and with a 100-year guarantee, the embankment is now in ruins.

However, on July 16, just a day before the second collapse, Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) director general Abul Kalam Azad informed Xtra that the Sirajganj town protection embankment had overcome all risks. ‘. We will protect the embankment at any cost,’In spite of numerous river training and flood control projects in the country, like the Sirajganj embankment, the condition of these projects are in a sorry state. Despite boastful guarantees, most of these projects collapse or fail within a decade or so, plunging residents of these areas into hopelessness and a constant threat of flood like the ones during 1998 and 2004.