Clean Dhaka top priority (Video)
The two new mayors of Dhaka city corporations yesterday said they urgently needed some 200 designated sites for effective waste collection to keep their priority pledge to make Dhaka a clean city.
They said this at a discussion titled “Towards a New Dhaka: Possibilities and Challenges”, organised by The Daily Star at The Daily Star Centre in the capital.
Annisul Huq, mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), said the corporation needed 72 waste collection sites to be able to do half of its waste management job well.
There is not a single designated waste collection site in the capital now, he pointed out.
The city corporations would ask for land from the Rajuk, the Roads and Highways Department and the railway to set up waste collection sites, said the mayor, adding that he has requested the ward councillors to look for probable places in their localities.
At present, over 5,000 tonnes of solid waste is collected in 600 temporary containers that are placed on busy roads across the capital and mostly kept open.
They pollute the environment, as the waste stench of the rotting waste spreads around and stinky liquid seeps through the containers.
The waste is transported from collection sites to designated landfill grounds for dumping.
Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Sayeed Khokon said, “Waste management is also one of my top priority goals. We are soon going to distribute waste collection bags among 10,000 households. Later, bags would be supplied to the rest of the 1.43 lakh households [in DSCC].”
He told the discussion that after assuming office, he took part in cleanliness campaigns in different areas, including Kaptanbazar and Shyambazar.
The DSCC chief elaborated on some of the goals he has set to achieve in a year's time and said he has instructed the officials concerned to free the Dhupkhola and Golapbagh playgrounds from illegal occupancy and fix all the street lights before the holy Shab-e-Barat (June 2).
“Most of the parks and playgrounds in the city are now illegally occupied. Only 20 percent of the street lights are working,” mentioned Khokon.
On reclaiming footpaths from illegal occupation, he said a hidden nexus of beneficiaries has been behind it. He sought support from all quarters to free the pavements from illegal occupation.
Annisul said capturing footpaths in the city is a million dollar business. It requires a political decision and combined efforts of the city corporations, police and vendors to free the walkways from occupiers, he noted.
He outlined his immediate targets that include regaining control of grabbed parks and playgrounds, ensuring public security and removing illegal and hazardous billboards.
Only 976 billboards out of about 4,000 have approval from the DNCC, he added.
Salma A Shafi, a researcher at Centre for Urban Studies, said the mayors should use the ward councillors as their deputies to deliver services to city residents.
Ishrat Islam, professor of urban planning at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), echoed Salma's views.
Taqsem A Khan, managing director of Dhaka Wasa, blamed filling up of conservable floodplains and wetlands, and obstructing of flows in 65 canals for waterlogging in the capital. The canals are linked with four rivers around the city.
Dhaka Wasa maintains 320kms of storm water drain, 10kms of box culvert and 65kms of canals for the city's drainage system, he added.
A huge volume of solid waste, mostly from slums, remains out of the waste collection process. Besides, human waste is directly disposed of into the surface and storm drains in absence of septic tanks, said Md Ansar Ali Khan, chief executive officer of the DSCC.
Md Ashraful Islam, deputy town planner of Rajuk, said private land in flood flow zones, water retention areas and wetlands should be acquired by the government for conservation to help resolve waterlogging.
On illegal commercialisation of residential areas in the capital, Rajuk board member Md Abdur Rahman said eviction drives would be conducted against commercial establishments at residential houses if the city corporations stopped issuing trade licences to them and their utility connections were snapped.
The Daily Star Editor and Publisher Mahfuz Anam said, “We want to be by your [mayors'] side to support you and work together for the benefit of Dhaka city.”
Prof Nizamuddin Ahmed, former dean of Architecture, Urban and Regional Planning at Buet; and BM Enamul Haque, CEO of Dhaka North City Corporation, also spoke.
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