The price of development

A special economic zone (SEZ) for Japanese investors is being developed on a thousand acres of land in Araihazar upazila of Narayanganj, under a joint initiative between the governments of Bangladesh and of Japan. For the development of this zone, a special purpose company, named the Bangladesh Special Economic Zone Limited was formed by way of signing a joint venture agreement between Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA) and Sumitomo Corporation of Japan, in which BEZA and Sumitomo have stakes of 24 percent and 76 percent respectively.

According to the Resettlement Action Plan prepared for the Japanese economic zone in 2018, a time-bound action plan with measures to restore or improve the livelihoods and income of those affected by the project was supposed to be implemented, in order to comply with the Japan International Cooperation Agency's (JICA) Guidelines for Environmental and Social Considerations (2012). Although the land acquisition work for the first phase of the project started in 2017 and was completed in 2019, questions remain as to how much work has actually been done to restore or improve the lives and livelihoods of the locals affected by this project.

According to a recent report by The Daily Star, the construction of the Japanese SEZ has forced hundreds of people, whose livelihoods depended on farmland and water bodies, to switch to other professions—limiting their income sources as vast amounts of arable land, canals, and other water bodies were acquired for the project. While the landowners were provided with monetary compensation, the tenant farmers neither received compensation, nor were they offered any employment opportunities. This is despite the fact that, during the initiation of the project, BSEZ had assured that employment opportunities would be provided to farmers and their family members.

The question is: what kind of development uses thousands of crores of taka for land and infrastructure development, but not nearly enough to compensate and rehabilitate all the people impacted by the project? Or to prevent and solve waterlogging and other forms of environmental degradation in the area surrounding the project?

However, at present, many of the landless tenants and fishermen who used to earn a decent living before 2016 now pull rickshaws, or work as day labourers at informal jobs or at the economic zone. Not only this, as canals and water bodies of the low-lying area were filled up to facilitate the Japanese SEZ's infrastructure construction, waterlogging has become a major problem for the locals. Many homesteads remain inundated throughout the year as heavy rainfall causes the entire area to become waterlogged.

This author also acquired more insight into these problems during a field visit to the area in September 2022. The major allegations raised by the affected villagers against the economic zone authorities were that no compensation was given to any of those impacted who was not a landowner, such as people dependent on fishing and farming on the acquired land; alternative employment opportunities were not provided as promised; bribery, corruption, and irregularities were present during the payment of compensation to landowners; widespread dust pollution in the project area (even resulting in eye diseases); and there was prolonged waterlogging.

While allegations regarding the lack of compensation or the corruption could not be immediately verified by this writer, evidence of waterlogging was clearly visible.

The area where the economic zone is being developed used to feature low-lying swamps and paddy fields. Water from surrounding areas used to be absorbed and drained through this low-lying land. As a result of this land being acquired and then filled up with sand—raising it about 6.5 metres above the ground, without an arrangement for alternative drainage systems—waterlogging has become a permanent problem, causing unending suffering for the locals.

As seen during the field visit, due to the elevated ground of the economic zone, the water from surrounding villages such as Tekpara, Purinda, Chhon Para, Maiz Para, Naya Para, Ghosh Para, and more was not being allowed to drain. As a result, water accumulated in the courtyards of houses, the village roads were submerged, mosquito infestation increased, and because the low-lying land was waterlogged throughout the year, no vegetable crops could be grown on those lands. More than one year has passed since I witnessed all this, but while visiting Maiz Para recently, The Daily Star's correspondent found many homesteads inundated by waterlogging—confirming that no action has been taken by the economic zone authorities to end the suffering of so many villagers.

These issues, however, were not unforeseen. According to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the economic zone, in the public consultation meeting organised in November 2017, one local resident raised questions regarding waterlogging: "There is an existing canal going through the project site. When the construction work starts, land filling will occur. Water flow of the canal may be disrupted. Consequently, adjacent lowlands will be inundated during the wet season. Is BEZA aware of this situation[?]"

In response, BEZA said, "The existing canal will be improved with a well drainage system… [A] detailed master plan will be designed and implemented as well."

Thus, the local people initially felt assured that the drainage system would be improved. In reality, no action was taken to even restore the drainage system and prevent waterlogging in the area around the project.

The Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority acquired the land for the Japanese economic zone. TOA Corporation of Japan has done the development work on the acquired land (such as soil filling, construction of the boundary wall, connecting roads, the conservation reservoir, etc). In addition, the Bangladesh Special Economic Zone Limited and its contractor JGC Corporation are working to build various infrastructures for the economic zone, including roads, power distribution, water, and sewage systems, and rainwater drainage canals. The total cost of these development activities is estimated to be Tk 2,582.17 crore, of which Tk 454.35 crore will come from the state exchequer and the rest of the Tk 2,127.82 crore will be in the form of a loan from JICA.

The question is: what kind of development uses thousands of crores of taka for land and infrastructure development, but not nearly enough to compensate and rehabilitate all the people impacted by the project? Or to prevent and solve waterlogging and other forms of environmental degradation in the area surrounding the project? Why must the locals pay the price of projects supposedly being developed for the economic prosperity of the country?

We expect that the Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority and Japan International Cooperation Agency will soon take proper initiatives to compensate and rehabilitate those affected by the construction of the Japanese special economic zone—including the tenant farmers and fishermen—and will also solve the waterlogging problem caused in the immediate and surrounding areas of the project.

Kallol Mustafa is an engineer and writer who focuses on power, energy, environment and development economics.

Views expressed in this article are the author's own.

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