Living in fear of flooding

Thousands of people beside the Baleshwar river in Mathbaria upazila are passing their days amid fear of flooding their villages during the monsoon as the construction firm has missed the deadline of 2018 of completing the work.

Sayeed Ahammad, executive engineer of Water Development Board (WDB) in Pirojpur, said under a project titled ‘Emergency 2007 Cyclone Recovery and Restoration’, the construction work of 2.72 km long embankment from Khetachira to Kachubaria village and 1.6 km long embankment from Baro Machua to Bholmara village in the upazila was started in 2015 with the help of World Bank (WB). The deadline of completing the construction work was July 2018. 

Toma Construction got a Tk 75 crore work order for building the embankments, he said. 

The construction work of another portion of the embankment remains incomplete. Photo: Star

As the firm failed to complete 53 percent construction work of the embankments, WB has already taken back Tk 25 crore, said Sayeed Ahammad. 

Sidr victim Hanif Khan, 70, of Bholmara village in the upazila, said their area was battered by Sidr in November 2007. After the devastating cyclone, they have been affected by floods several times within ten years. 

“After beginning the construction work of the embankments, we became hopeful but now everything is shattered as the construction work of the embankments is yet to be completed,” said Hanif. 

The engineer said they have already written to the higher authorities for funds to complete the construction work of the embankments but a response is yet to come.