In past years, sections of the Jamuna and Meghna rivers have been subject to active bank erosion and riverbed scouring in two irrigation project areas - Pabna Irrigation and Rural Development Project (PIRDP) and Meghna-Dhonagoda Irrigation Project (MDIP).
Halcrow has helped to develop sustainable, cost-effective options to protect the flood embankments in these two areas through appropriate management of riverbank erosion.
A Halcrow-led team was appointed to identify and design suitable structural measures for controlling the riverbank that would be sustainable and cost-effective for agricultural lands. We were also asked to prepare systems for riverbank management in the future that ensured local participation in monitoring, operation and maintenance, planning and cost recovery.
Stakeholders participated fully in the development of the permanent solutions. We undertook extensive socio-economic surveys to ascertain the views of people affected by the projects, and the feasibility studies of potential solutions included assessing their social, environmental and economic impacts.
We also prepared resettlement and compensation plans for project-affected-people for all the feasible options.
As part of the project, the consultant team also monitored and supervised interim works that were required to protect sections of embankment while the permanent solutions were being developed. Geo-bags filled with sand were placed in the Jamuna and Meghna in areas that were at imminent risk of erosion that could endanger the embankments.