Chief Advisor Professor Muhammad Yunus held a meeting with the concerned parties on Sunday (March 9, 2025) to know the progress of the ‘Sayedabad Water Treatment Plant Construction Project Phase-3’ and the ‘Master Plan to Protect the Meghna River’ projects. He expressed his anger that the work on the two projects has been stalled for 10 years.
Expressing surprise, the Chief Advisor said, ‘Such an important project has been stalled for almost 10 years! Yet it is very important for the people of Dhaka city. Day by day, we are putting the environment at great risk by extracting groundwater. Despite the fact that there is a way out of the crisis, that work has not been done for so many years.’
High-ranking officials from the Local Government Department, Dhaka WASA, the Physical Infrastructure Division of the Planning Commission, the Economic Relations Division (ERD), the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the Department of Environment were present at the meeting. The meeting was also attended by the Principal Advisor’s Principal Coordinator for SDGs, Lamia Morshed, and Principal Secretary, Siraj Uddin Mia.
At the time, the Principal Advisor asked the concerned departments and ministries to find out where there are obstacles in starting these two projects. Along with this, he also discussed the issue of reducing costs.
The concerned said that about 70 percent of the total water supply in Dhaka city is being supplied from underground sources. Due to the use of underground water for a long time, the water level is going down by about 2-3 meters every year; which is in conflict with sustainable development and poses a threat of major disasters in the future.
To address this crisis, the Meghna River Protection Master Plan was taken to purify the water supplied from the Meghna River in the ‘Sayedabad Water Treatment Plant Project (Phase-3)’ and build a sustainable and environmentally friendly water supply system for the residents of Dhaka city.
Germany, France, Denmark and the European Union are supporting this project. The European Union and other foreign organizations will continue their cooperation in the implementation of the project in the future, and have promised to increase assistance if necessary.
Preparations for the implementation of the master plan to protect the Meghna River began 10 years ago. Although the planning work has been completed, the implementation work has not yet begun.
The Buriganga and Shitalakshya rivers near Dhaka have become unusable due to pollution, and other rivers in Bangladesh are also in various crises. In this situation, the chief advisor commented that protecting the Meghna River is the government’s priority.
He said, “There is a lot of concern about the Meghna River. We have to start working quickly to save it. Keeping the rivers of Bangladesh free from pollution should be one of the government’s priorities. Otherwise, the lives of the people in this area cannot be saved.”
The chief advisor directed the relevant ministries and departments to complete their official work very quickly and implement the projects within the current fiscal year.
In addition, he also discussed how the River Protection Commission can be made more active and how to increase coordination between the Department of Environment and the River Protection Commission.
