Dr. Maminul Haque Sarker

Senior Advisor, River, Delta and Coastal Morphology
Contact No.: 01817006781
Email: msarker@cegisbd.com

Dr. Sarker has more than 37 years of experience in River, Coastal and Delta Morphology and research. He has participated as a team member and as a project manager in a number of various research, study and consultancy work related with morphology at home and abroad. He has been serving CEGIS as a Deputy Executive Director (Development) since 2009. Before that, he was the Director and Head of River Delta and Coastal Morphology Division. His administrative responsibilities cover managing, monitoring and guiding the professionals of Research & Development, Remote Sensing, GIS, Database and IT divisions. His professional responsibilities cover working in fluvial morphology and relevant fields, especially in the field of river, delta and coastal morphology, predictions of river planform, monitoring the morphological development, environment impact analysis (EIA), tidal river management (TRM), subsidence, coastal morphology, planning and execution in the main rivers of Bangladesh; also in other civil and hydraulic engineering works.

In 2009, he obtained a PhD-degree at University of Nottingham, UK, based on a thesis on Morphological Response of the Brahmaputra-Padma-Lower Meghna River System to the Assam Earthquake of 1950. He did his M.Sc. in Hydraulic Engineering at IHE, the Netherlands, in 1996, and B.Sc in Civil Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET), in 1980. He has a list of publications in international journals and conference proceedings, along with book chapters. He is also author book title “Inland Navigation and Intregated Water Resources Management published by Acamadic Foundation, New Delhi, India”.  He has participated in several special training courses on river morphology, EIA, project management, proposal preparation, GIS and Remote Sensing.

Dr. Sarker led a number of research to assess the dynamics of the Bengal deltas, evolution of the rivers in the subsiding Sylhet haor basin, morphological evaluation and developing prediction tools for predicting the morphological changes of the Ganges, Jamuna/Brahmaputra, and Padma rivers, along with the Koshi River in India. He has been actively engaged in many studies as Team Leader and his major responsibilities include morphological assessments and process of the river system and assess the responses of the rivers to human interventions, and climate change to assist in determining the design parameters for potential river training works and bank protection.

He is experienced to led many international projects such as to identify vulnerable reaches of the Kosi River, Bihar, India, morphological processes of the Brahmaputra River in Assam, India and worked as International Panel of Expert nominated by the World Bank, where major task includes assessing the impact of the Gorai flow on the salinity and morphology.

Dr. Sarker has long experience of working with ministries, departments, national and international development partners. He was a Member of the National River Conservation Commission (NRCC), People's Republic of Bangladesh.


Leading Projects (to be updated)

Screening, Technical and Environmental Auditing of BWDB Schemes

2005-2006

The benefits expected from the Water Management Improvement Projects (WMIP) are reduced vulnerability and enhanced livelihood opportunities for people living in project areas. This will be achieved through active participation of local stakeholders brought together under Water Management Organizations (WMOs) to manage and monitor water management structures. Malfunctioning structures such as sluice gates, culverts, embankments etc. will be improved also. In this regard, CEGIS is engaged for the period 2008-2013 in assisting the screening of flood control and rehabilitation schemes with an option that considers a participatory approach, as well as conducting E/SIA of selected schemes and providing multi-disciplinary capacity-building training to WMOs.

Convergence of Inland Navigation and Integrated Water Resources Management Goals

2007-2008

In association with partner organizations of India, CEGIS has carried out a research theme titled “Convergence of Inland Navigation and Integrated Water Resources Management Goals” for the IUCN under the “The Ecosystems for Life: A Bangladesh-India Initiative”. Aiming to promote insight into the riverine ecosystem issues across the Bangladesh-India border, the research is focused on the sustainability of the international navigation route between Ashuganj in Bangladesh and Karimganj in India. The research mainly identified the causes of the deteriorating conditions of the rivers affecting navigation.

SMS Gateway System for Monitoring Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) to Reduce Community Health Risk

2011-2012

Avian Influenza is a hazard for the poultry industry. It causes heavy economic losses to farmers as well as reductions in the protein intake of people. To address this issue, CEGIS has developed an operational SMS gateway system for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to ensure rapid reporting and archiving of suspected Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) cases for the Department of Livestock Services. It is a simple system comprising of a mobile phone and a computer fitted with a modem, and can be easily established anywhere such as at Union Parishad Information Centers.