The cost of the country’s most ambitious rail project (Bangladesh)
The cost of the country’s most ambitious rail project (Bangladesh)
Najifa Farhat, Dhaka Tribune
November 30, 2021
Razed hills, vanishing forests and threatened wildlife – is it worth it?
The Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar single-line dual gauge railway, one of the
government’s most ambitious rail projects, stands to bring significant
benefits to communication but also poses a threat to forests and wildlife
habitats in the areas covered by the project.
The construction of the rail line is moving fast, as the government intends
to open it at the end of 2022.
The project is one of seven investment sub-projects being undertaken by
Bangladesh Railway (BR) to improve the country’s rail connectivity with
other Asian countries. It is part of the Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) network
and will improve access to Myanmar and beyond.
The project has been endorsed by the South Asia Sub-Regional Economic
Cooperation (SASEC).
The 101km-long railway includes 27km through three reserve forests of
Chittagong: Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary, Fasiakhali Wildlife Sanctuary and
Medhkachapia National Park.
These three protected areas along with some other wooded areas in the
southeast of the country are part of an important corridor for Asian
elephants. Furthermore, these areas are home to 61 species on the
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) endangered list.
The forest authorities have said they have repeatedly asked for a
remodelling of the project, but their pleas have gone unheard.
Government officials said there was no way of executing the project without
touching the forest areas included in the project plans, and that they had
tried to leave the elephant corridor intact.
As a signatory to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Bangladesh was
supposed to have put an end to deforestation by 2020. The country was also
obliged to ensure 20% forest coverage by 2023.
Deserts Within Forests
After this correspondent walked a few kilometres in the Chunati Wildlife
Sanctuary recently, it seemed to him that he had come upon a desert.
Hills of clay that were 60-70 feet tall had been razed into flat roads and
numerous trees had been cut down, including some that were over a century
old.
Some of the felled trees were still lying on the ground, while the rest had
been sold to timber producers over the last three years.
According to Rafiqul Islam Chowdhury, divisional forest officer of the
Wildlife and Nature Conservation Division of Chittagong, as many as 42,619
trees have been cut down for the project so far. It is estimated that
240,000 trees have to be felled to make way for the project.
The Department of Forest does not have data on how many hills have been
razed. However, Toma Constructions, one of the contractors for the project,
was fined Tk 50 crore for razing 22 million cubic feet of hills in the
forest areas in December 2020.
The elephant corridor, which runs from Myanmar all the way to India through
Bangladesh, was already becoming muddled prior to the project due to
encroachment by human settlements. Contact between humans and wild
elephants has become increasingly frequent in recent years, and the
construction of the rail line is unlikely to improve the situation.
Acknowledging the danger to elephants from human settlements and
development activities, Forest Department officials feared the already
endangered Asian elephant and other wildlife may be pushed to extinction.
However, the officials refused to speak against such a high-profile
development project on the record.
Manjurul Alam, range officer of Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary, said: “Reserve
forests are reserved for a reason. These areas are supposed to be protected
for wildlife species, but this has not happened.
“The project has already harmed many species of wildlife, and it has the
potential to completely push out the elephants left in the region,” he
added.
When asked why the project had been undertaken in the first place, the
official said: “This is a top priority project for the government. I cannot
speak further on this.”
Forest Department lacks the authority to say ‘No’
Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary has the most to lose among the three reserve
forests, contributing as it has around 41% percent of its total
18,781-hectare area to the railway project. The rail line will pass through
the sanctuary's buffer, impact, and core zones of elephant movement.
The 2016 Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report prepared by the railway
authorities acknowledged the potential loss of wildlife from the project,
mentioning that “the impact to elephant corridors is potentially
significant.”
The Forest Department is responsible for all forests in the country,
covering approximately 17% of the country's landmass. However, it lacks the
authority to veto development activities inside forests, as the Department
of Environment (DoE) has the final say on the grant of EIA certificates.
Forest Department Conservator (Wildlife and Nature Conservation) Molla
Rezaul Karim said: “We protested multiple times against this project, but
our pleas were unheard. Is it only the Forest Department’s responsibility
to protect the forest? It is a government project and Bangladesh Railway
didn’t consider the forest as important.”
Md Mofizur Rahman, project director of the Dohazari-Cox's Bazar rail line,
told Dhaka Tribune: “There is no way one could avoid touching the three
reserve forests while implementing this project as the forests are adjacent
to the Chittagong Highway. We approved a design that will have the least
impact on biodiversity.”
An overpass, three underpasses, an elephant funnel fence, and crosswalks at
different points have been planned to preserve the elephant corridor.
Forest officials criticized the initiatives as the culverts are at best 5-6
ft wide, whereas an average elephant requires a minimum of 8-10 ft.
However, Project Director Md Mofizur Rahman claimed the underpasses and
overpass were being built on the previous elephant corridors with the
correct measurements.
He also said the authorities were planning a pilot study at Lawachara
reserve forest that involves installing thermal cameras inside the rail
engine to assess whether train masters can detect the presence of animals
on the tracks.