The essential follow up of the MES projects was defined as the new "Estuary Development Program (EDP)" . This program can be founded on the "Master Plan" and "Development Plan" , but the status, the criteria and the requirements of various projects such as the CERP, the Coastal Green Belt Project, CDSP-III and others will have be integrated in the program. This also means that any future pilot works will be embedded in the scope of other projects or programs adding to Integrated Coastal Zone Management. Meanwhile the MoWR approved the TAPP of EDP, covering a period of 5 years.

Some parts of the "Development Plan" have been taken up. Some other parts can only been taken into consideration, if feasible protective measures can be found to support the development of an area. Therefore the EDP concentrates on ongoing surveys and studies, preparation of land accretion schemes and a further pilot program for erosion control.

As far as the historical development is concerned, in 1978, the Government of The Netherlands and Bangladesh started the Land Reclamation Project (LRP).

As the project progressed, the initial emphasis shifted from the reclamation of new land to the consolidation of existing young land. Both components continued under the same project head, but over time lost their logical interrelationship. However, by the end of the project in July 1991, the two Governments, in recognition of the two distinct approaches, agreed that the project should proceed as two separate activities. These were the Char Development and Settlement Project (CDSP) and the Meghna Estuary Study (MES).

The CDSP, which is land based, is implemented by the BWDB with participation from the Ministry of Lands, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, and others. The MES, which would be largely concerned with the hydrological and morphological aspects, was put under the BWDB as the executing agency, but under the umbrella of FAP.

The project arrangements for implementation of the MES project started only on the 1 st of November 1995. The MES phase was completed in September 1998. After that a bridging period was formulated under the name of MES II from October 1998 until 30 September 2001, which was later on extended to 31 July 2001.

The area under MES and MES-II, covered the Lower Meghna River from Chandpur Town to the Bay of Bengal . The eastern boundary starts from Chittagong and the western boundary follows the Tetulia River . The area is subject to the forces of tides, river flows and tropical cyclones. The inclusion of the MES "Master Plan" and "Development Plan" with possible interventions in the national planning is now in the hands of WARPO. However, because of rapid natural changes and changes induced by human interventions, the plans have to be adjusted and revised as a rolling process.

Pilot schemes for erosion control and the acceleration of land accretion were also executed during the MES projects and important lessons were drawn for future interventions. Furthermore, much attention was given to surveys and monitoring as well as updating of models and studies.

During the period from mid 2000 to the end of MES II, a further basis was laid to put a Program Development Office for Integrated Coastal Zone Management (PDO-ICZM) into operation. It was decided that the MES II arrangements should be used to start the operation, which meant that the effort was combined with the winding up of MES II, together with BWDB initiated follow-up activities. The use of the available MES II budget had to be shared for both the operations. Meanwhile, as per decision of 1 February 2002, the PDO-ICZM has gone into a second phase as a separate activity. However, given its scope of activities it will be related to the EDP as well

Project Objectives

EDP has been framed as an essential contribution to enable GoB to meet their overall objectives of coastal zone management, which can be stated as follows:

•  Mitigation against and better management of natural disasters as a result of storm surges caused by cyclones. The specific aim is to reduce risk of loss of life and damage to property;

•  Improved management of natural resources in the coastal zone and mitigation against the negative effects of human induced natural resources degradation, biodiversity/habited loss, climate change, environmental pollution; and

•  Creation of opportunities for sustainable development

The specific objectives for the 3 parts of the EDP are as follow:

Part A:The Survey & Study Support Unit

- Updating of the bathymetric, surveys, along with micro-level surveys for the support and preparation of viable investment oriented projects and to update databases.

- Hydro-surveys of the entire coastal area for the understanding of the hydro-dynamics & the morphological processes.

Part B: Investigation & Design of Potential Cross Dam

- Identification & Investigation of potential cross dams throughout the coastal zone.

•  Preparation of detailed design and drawings of identified potential cross dams throughout the coastal zone.

•  Assessment of the impact on the environment due to construction of cross dams and complete the project preparation.

Part C: Investigation and Implementation of Potential Erosion Control & Accelerated Land Accretion Schemes

- Implementation of modified pilot schemes for the preparation of investment projects for erosion control & accretion of land on the basis of the lessons learnt and the (independent) evaluation during the MES period.

- Viable accretion pilot schemes at different locations in the Bangladesh estuaries to accelerate the natural process of sedimentation for the preparation of accretion oriented investment projects.