How to resolve Dhaka city’s waterlogging problem?

To resolve the waterlogging of Dhaka city there is no dearth of preparation- promises, small projects, big projects and large allocations.

But as there is no scientific or holistic plan, rather than reducing the sufferings of the citizens, it has been augmented manifold.

According to newspeper repots on Sunday, Dhaka’s two city corporations have identified 141 locations vulnerable to waterlogging ahead of the upcoming monsoon.

Of the spots, 108 are in Dhaka North City Corporation areas and 33 in Dhaka South City Corporation areas.

Urban planners and experts, however, said the city’s drainage crisis cannot be solved without restoring canal connectivity, improving maintenance, and implementing an integrated master plan.

They pointed out that the biggest problem remains the lack of connectivity between secondary and tertiary drainage channels and the main outfalls.

According to the Bangladesh Institute of Planners, of the approximately 9,556 acres of water bodies and flood-flow zones in Dhaka, some 3,440 acres have already been lost to filling and construction.

As the metropolis expanded outward, it gradually did away with the very features that had once helped it handle rain so well.

Reportedly, the two city corporations have everything they require to drain the water including the high capacity pumps, but these are not utilised properly and the citizens cannot get out of the vicious cycle of suffering.

Following rain, water inside Dhaka flows to adjacent river bodies through pump houses, sluice gates and canals.

Among them, the pump station of Dhaka South adjacent to the Kamalapur Stadium can drain 8, 55,000 litres of water every minute. But most of its capacity is not being used.

The reason is that the drains and box culverts that are supposed to carry the water to the pump station are clogged up.

The situation is the same in the other pump station situated at Dholaikhal of Old Dhaka adjacent to the bank of the Buriganga.

Although Dhaka is the most densely populated city in the world and seventh in terms of population, some parts of its drainage network were established before independence while some other parts were established in the nineties.

Thanks to rivers all around and a net-like canal network in the middle — the rain water of Dhaka used to be drained naturally.

Despite various attempts on several occasions for regaining these canals, the situation did not change much.

Along with the two city corporations, every citizen has to pay the price of their faulty policy, break away from complacency and big talk and instead establish a functional drainage system.

Take steps to restore water bodies, dig canals and clean the culverts regularly.