ABSTRACT
This chapter describes two major government projects, the Gorai River Restoration Project (GRRP) and the Ganges-Kobodak (GK) Project, both examples of 'high modernism', as that term is used by Scott. The Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) implemented the GRRP since 1998, with the assistance of the World Bank, to help restore normal flows during both borsha and khora seasons by dredging the river channel. The central government established the GRRP to flush out sedimentation and charlands from the Gorai River but, the project increased flooding, drought, river bank erosion, water stagnation and embankment failures. The GRRP is a perfect example of the ways in which the political culture of Bangladesh and its top-down political processes tend to undermine local water management systems and promote corporate and elite control over local natural resources. The top-down water development approach that is evident with the GRRP and the GK project fails to protect Chapra villagers from livelihood challenges.
