Bangladesh News

A project to phase in waterways around the capital has once again been deferred at a recent Ecnec meeting while a government evaluation report had strongly recommended the work to solve the persistent waterlogging and traffic congestion.

About Tk 36 crore has already been spent on opening a waterway from Sadarghat to Ashulia. But the second phase of the project estimated to cost Tk 103 crore for a waterway from Ashulia to Demra was deferred at the September 14 meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec).

In December last year, Ecnec had declined to approve the second phase and instead asked the Planning Commission to place a detailed report evaluating the first-phase work and explaining the necessity for a waterway from Ashulia to Demra.

Sources said that though the project has been delayed till the next meeting, chances are slim for it to get the nod within the tenure of the present government.

Setting up a circular waterway after retrieving the illegally grabbed rivers and canals is a must for the city to be rid of the severe waterlogging, noted the evaluation report placed at the last meeting of Ecnec, the highest government body that examines, appraises and approves the development projects and programmes.

The report was prepared by a four-member evaluation team that was fronted by Subhas Chandra Ghosh, chief of the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Department (IMED) of the planning ministry.

It said the second phase of the circular waterway project needs to be done for reaping the benefits of the first phase work.

The report said many portions of the Turag and Balu and canals like Tongi and Rampura have been grabbed illegally and it is one of the main reasons for waterlogging in Dhaka during the monsoon.

The encroachers have built residential plots and commercial establishments on the river and canal banks, barring the rain and floodwater from draining away, pointed out the report.

“The second phase if completed will help rainwater flow out of the city. And the upshot will be that the city dwellers won’t have to experience long traffic jams,” a member of the evaluation committee said.

Asked about the reasons for delaying the project, a source in the shipping ministry said it requires the government to free the grabbed parts of the rivers and canals from the illegal encroachers who in most cases are very influential individuals and groups. “This might account for the government’s not okaying the work,” the source added.

The evaluation report, however, hinted at a number of irregularities in the work of building the waterway from Sadarghat to Ashulia. It points particularly at some unnecessary landing stations along the 29.50-kilometre path.

It said the low bridge over the Turag at Ashulia point is another obstacle to completing the circular water channel.

The report recommended building landing stations with approach roads so that people could easily reach there.

For the three-year second phase work, Japan will commit Tk 30 crore from its debt cancellation funds while the government will have to manage the rest Tk 73 crore in three years meaning about Tk 24 crore a year.

“But in the last fiscal, the government has failed to utilise around Tk 700 crore that was granted by Japan,” a finance ministry official said.

The circular waterway project was undertaken in 1999 in line with the master plan for the Dhaka City. The first phase work began in 2001 and the prime minister opened the waterway in early 2005.

At the inauguration ceremony, she directed the authorities concerned to start the second-round work immediately as it was among the priority-based projects of the alliance government.

Referring to a government estimate that said the yearly loss due to traffic jam stands at around Tk 1000 crore, a high official of the planning ministry said, “If the waterway is introduced properly it will for sure reduce the pressure on the city streets and thus ease the traffic congestion.”