This question is being posed by high officials of Water Development Board (WDB) and political circles here in view of a fresh feasibility study of the project by the government.

The ECNEC (Executive Committee of National Economic Council) approved the Tk 1,116 crore project on January 21 last year and Tk 10 lakh was spent from government's own resources for some preliminary work. Since then there has been no work.

Talking to this correspondent on Thursday, the WDB officials said they became confused as a high powered IMED (Implementation Monitory Evaluation Department) team visited some project areas on Sunday and Monday for a "fresh evaluation" of the project approve earlier.

The team was lead by Roksana Begum, Director General of IMED under the Water Commission.

The team members were tightlipped during their visit. They only told local WDB officials that they came for a fresh evaluation and would submit their report to higher authorities. They declined to talk to newsmen.

"A fresh evaluation of an ECNEC-approved project is unprecedented", a high official of Dalia WDB told this correspondent seeking anonymity.

There may be a fresh thinking in certain government quarters because of declining flow of the Teesta and lukewarm response from donors to finance the project.

The Teesta flow can not cover even the command area of the first phase of the project, he said.

Only about one third of the command area under the first phase can be irrigated now because of unilateral withdrawal of Teesta waters by India through its Gojaldoba barrage in the upstream, he said. Bangladesh has no agreement with India on sharing Teesta water.

The first phase, completed in June 1999, was supposed to provide irrigation facilities to about 1. 54 lakh hectares of land to produce additional 0.49 million tonnes of paddy but it can cover only about one third of it, other WDB sources said.

The first phase was completed with local technology and manpower.

The whole project (first and second phase) has been designed to provide irrigation to about 6.5 lakh hectares of land in 35 upazilas in Nilphamari, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Gaibandha and Bogra districts after completion of the second phase.

The officials from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) and Saudi Fund for Development visited the project area but none of them committed any assistance. Some of then proposed lending technology and expertise.

The WDB then proposed to the government to allocate funds from its own resources, but there has not been any response to it, WDB sources said.

The first phase was completed with assistance from ADB, Abu Dhabi Fund for Development and some others donors.

Some sources also said that the World Bank earlier pressed the government to discontinue the project.