Climate funds spent on park in Khulna

After being switched seven times, the park has finally been given a name. Following a series of dramatic events that continued for almost seven years it was finally given the name ‘Khulna Riverview Park’ on 24 December.

Before that the name of the park was changed from Khulna DC Park to Muktijoddha Palli to Bangabandhu Ecopark to Sheikh Russel Ecopark to District Administration Park and to Khulna Ecopark. The Khulna district administration and the forest department tried all these basically in the efforts of claiming ownership for the park. 

Prothom Alo’s investigation found out that the district administration tried different tactics to take control of this park in Khulna. Whenever the need arose they thwarted their opponents scaring them in the name of ‘Bangabandhu’. They also brought allocation from the climate funds by adding the word ‘Ecopark’ to the name.

In the meantime, the forest department took the park under their control by taking up another project. The project had a deadline till June of last year. However, the district administration had already inaugurated the park before that on 25 December 2023. Without informing the forest department, they organised a grand opening ceremony also.

Former project director Abu Naser Mohsin Hossain told Prothom Alo that the forest department was not given any information about the inauguration of the park. They were just told that the divisional commissioner and the police commissioner would visit the park.

The former project director was invited there since the senior officials were visiting. But when he went there, he saw that an inauguration ceremony had been organised and the top administrative officials of Khulna were present.

Khandaker Yasir Arefin was the deputy commissioner of Khulna at that time. He is now working as the financial adviser (deputy secretary) at the Bangladesh Space Research and Remote Sensing Organisation (SPARRSO).

When asked about the allegations of organising an inauguration even before the project was completed and not informing the project director, he told Prothom Alo over the phone, “The project director was present there, but I’m not sure whether he was informed about the inauguration or not.”

Even after all these incidents, the issue regarding the ownership of the park has not been resolved yet. In the meantime, Tk 85 million (Tk 8.5 crore) has been spent away from the Climate Change Trust fund, which experts have labeled as ‘unjust, wasteful’.

While digging into the history about the foundation and naming of this well-known park in Khulna it was found that in May of 2016 the then divisional commissioner of Khulna, Md Abdus Samad had sent letters to the deputy commissioners in every district of the division. In those letters he had called for establishing a ‘District Administration Ecopark’ on the khas land lying unoccupied in every district.

The letters stated that there is a lot of khas land left unused in every single district of Khulna division. There is a risk of the government completely losing possession of these khas lands in near future. So, if an eco-park is established there, tourists will be attracted and the scope of entertainment will be expanded. The stipulated cost of constructing the park was Tk 870 million (Tk 87 crore). The construction of the park is in final stage now.

After receiving the letter, the district administration of Khulna started searching for land. Later it was decided to build the eco-parks on a total of 35.86 acres of Khas land including 17.67 acres in Mathabhanga mouza of Batiaghata upazila on the bank of Kazibacha river and 18.19 acres in Jabusa mouza of Rupsa upazila. On 18 December 2016, the divisional commissioner of Khulna applied to the land ministry asking for permission to use the land.

After getting approval from the land ministry, the deputy commissioner of Khulna started sending letters to various government departments including the forest department, the tourism board, and the water development board from March 2017 requesting them for the development of the park.

The water development board constructed a sustainable embankment along the river bank. The tourism board provided an allocation of Tk 10 million (Tk 1 crore) against the request for an allocation of Tk 15 million (Tk 1.5 crore) for infrastructural development within the park. With that fund, the base of a multi-storey building was constructed inside the park.

At one point when the funds were running out, Khulna district administration send a proposal to the Sundarbans west forest department for the construction of the park and creating forest land there. The proposal went to the ministry of environment, forests and climate change through the forest department.

The ministry then took up a project with an allocation of more than Tk 86.7 million (Tk 86,758,000) from the Climate Change Trust fund. Notably, a total of Tk 603.2 million (Tk 603,256,000) has been allocated from the climate fund so far to seven other projects alongside this park in Khulna district. Then, the forest department appealed for that Khas land to be put under their authority before starting the project.

However, in April 2018 the then deputy commissioner of Khulna Md Amin Ul Ahsan mentioned in a letter that the park is being constructed under the coordinated supervision of the forest department, tourism corporation, water development board, public health engineering department, local government engineering department, zila parishad, architecture discipline of Khulna University, Khulna development authority, Batiaghata and Rupsha upazila administrations along with Khulna district administration.

So, it’s impossible to put the land under the authority of the forest department alone. It had already been decided to construct the park through the district administration, keeping it under the authority of the land ministry.

At first, the district administration had named it ‘Khulna DC Park’. The land suddenly caught attention of the freedom fighter welfare trust. Then there arose the demand to construct a freedom fighters’ residence there instead of a park. There were also attempts to take possession of the land. Considering the risk, the district administration hurriedly changed the name of the park to ‘Bangabandhu Ecopark’.

The freedom fighters backed out at that. Later, the district administration applied to the Bangabandhu Memorial Trust as per the rules for permission to use that name. After receiving the application, the trust replaced the word ‘Bangabandhu’ in the title with ‘Sheikh Russell’. Since then, the construction of the park has been running officially under the name ‘Sheikh Russell Ecopark’.

However, after the fall of Awami League government in the face of a student-people uprising on 5 August, the portion with ‘Sheikh Russell’ written on it was shattered from the nameplate hung at the entrance of the park. And, the name ‘District Administration Park’ was printed on different walls in black ink.

After that incident, the forest department claimed ownership of the park again. And, letters started being exchanged among various authorities. Two representatives from two institutions kept supervising the park. Both the authorities have appointed security guards and night watchmen as well. The district administration wants to name it ‘Khulna Riverview Park’ this time while, the forest department wants it to be named ‘Khulna Ecopark’.

Finally on 24 December, the district administration put up a plaque with the name ‘Khulna Riverview Park’ in front of the park. Earlier in a meeting held on 3 October, the management committee of the park had approved this name. Also letters have been sent to various departments for the change of name. All this was learned after talking to officials from the district administration and the Sundarbans west forest department.

Last of all on 14 May 2024, it was demanded in a letter sent to the land ministry that the park should be handed over to the ministry of environment, forest and climate change. Then on 3 November, the divisional commissioner of Khulna sent a letter to the same ministry demanding that the park should be under the authority of the district administration.

The then additional deputy commissioner (revenue) of Khulna, Abu Sayed Md Manjur Alam was directly involved in the construction of the park. He is now working as the additional divisional commissioner of Khulna. When asked about it, he told Prothom Alo there is no question of handing over the park to the forest department alone as various government bodies have worked jointly for the development of the park.

The current deputy commissioner of Khulna, Mohammad Saiful Islam, said that he’s not aware of how the park was constructed before. After 5 August however, neither anyone else invested in the park nor they received any donations from anyone.

As many as four people have worked as the project director of the park. In the beginning Md Amir Hossain Chowdhury, who is the now the chief conservator of forests, was the director of the project. At that time, he was the conservator of forests in Khulna region.

When Amir Hossain was transferred, another forest conservator of Khulna region Md Moinuddin Khan became the project director. He has now become the deputy chief conservator of forests. When tried to contact Amir Hossain Chowdhury, he did not respond. But, Moinuddin Khan told Prothom Alo that he does not know how the climate fund allocation was used in this project.

Current conservator of forests in Khulna region, Mihir Kumar Dey argued, “The mandate of the ministry of environment, forests and climate change includes the issue of establishing eco-park establishment. That’s why the project was given allocations from the climate fund. The concept of the eco-park was originally determined in the government notification. Since the government funds were spent with that purpose, I expect it to remain an eco-park in the end.”

When the project expired last June, the ministry did not extend it any further. So there is no project director at the moment. The last project director of the park was Abu Naser Mohsin Hossain, former divisional forest officer of the Sundarbans west forest division. He took over the post of the divisional forest officer in Tangail last October.

When contacted, he told Prothom Alo that when the forest department was given the responsibility of afforestation in the park, it was an abandoned piece of land. Later with the allocation from the climate fund, 3,250 forest and fruit trees, 2,750 rare and endangered species, 4,000 ornamental plants and 4,000 mangrove trees were planted in the park. A lake and walkways were constructed as well.

Although the word ‘Ecopark’ is included in the name, there were plans to build a fishing zone, kids’ corner, swimming pool, marine drive, foot trail, train, suspended bridge, water bridge, playground, food zone, amphitheater, observation tower etc. in the park right from the beginning, revealed the investigation.

When asked about the use of climate fund allocation in such an entertaining and commercial project, chairperson of the center for environment and participatory research (CEPR) Gouranga Nandy said, the money from the climate trust fund is mainly supposed to be spent on helping people endangered by climate change or to make arrangements for them to adapt to the risk. This money cannot be used to build a park. The money of the climate fund has been wasted in the name of the park.

Khulna divisional coordinator for the Bangladesh environmental lawyers association (BELA), Mahfuzur Rahman also told Prothom Alo that usually projects are accepted after discussing it with the people affected by climate change.

But there was no participation of the affected people while accepting this project. While the money from the climate trust fund was supposed to be spent on affected people, instead of doing so the money was looted in the name of building a park, he added.

As shown in the report sent to the deputy commissioner’s office last year, the forest department had spent Tk 84.8 million (Tk 8.48 crore) on planting trees, building infrastructure, purchasing furniture and equipment, digging lakes and reservoirs, and for maintaining trees in the park until June last year. However, Prothom Alo’s investigation could not account for this cost. It was stated that 14,000 trees had been planted in the park.

But in reality, it was seen that some small and large jhau trees, almond trees and some mangrove trees had been planted there. Apart from that a few haritaki, bahera, bakul, jarul, shumrali, debdaru and krishnachura trees had been planted as well. Plus, some other trees including khoi, babla, and neem had been sown by scattering seeds.

When asked the forest department for the number of trees planted in the park and the account of the expenditure on planting trees they didn’t provide it. Forest officials were found quite annoyed when asked for information.

Three paddle boats were supposed to be purchased for the lake inside the park. The cost for those was estimated at Tk 1.5 million (Tk 15 lakh). But in reality, no boats were purchased from the project at all. Meanwhile in November 2023, the district administration purchased three boats, for Tk 120,000 (Tk 1.20 lakh) only.

The cost of two multimedia projectors (with screens) was estimated at Tk 100,000 (Tk 1 lakh). There was an allocation of Tk 50,000 for a digital camera. The cost of purchasing and installing a deep tube well was estimated at Tk 500,000 (Tk 5 lakh). The cost of purchasing furniture for the park office was calculated to be Tk 300,000 (Tk 3 lakh). And, the allocation for computer, parts, internet, projectors, printers, UPS and spare parts was estimated at Tk 200,000 (Tk 2 lakh).

While visiting the park at least six times in November and December, no multimedia projectors, cameras, furniture, computers, printers, or UPS were found there. Md Arifuzzaman, who is in charge of the park’s security, said they had never seen any of these.

When asked the project director about it, he said that these were kept at the forest department’s office. When went to the office of Sundarbans west forest department to verify the information, the officials there showed two computers, two projectors, a projector screen, a camera, and some furniture.

Two people were using the two computers, which were brand new. The projectors, cameras and furniture were also brand new. Some of them had not even been unboxed.

A deep tube well has been installed right next to the park office to ensure water supply there at the cost of Tk 500,000 (Tk 5 lakh). After speaking to two organisations that install such tube wells, it was learned that installing a deep tube well costs Tk150,000-200,000 (Tk 1.5-2 lakh). Even if there’s any additional job, it can be installed within a maximum of Tk 250,000 (Tk 2.5 lakh).

Deputy commissioner of Khulna Mohammad Saiful Islam has taken the charge only recently. When asked, he told Prothom Alo that in view of the letter from the land ministry, they held a meeting with a cross section of people a few days ago on the matter of the park. The question, whether the park would be an eco-park or an entertainment park, came up there.

In the end, everyone unanimously voted in favour of naming it ‘Khulna Riverview Park’. This opinion was sent from the divisional commissioner’s office to the land ministry later. He said that the kind of environment required for an eco-park is absent in this park.

*This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Nourin Ahmed Monisha