He was speaking at a workshop held at the Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) Ministry on upgrading the feasibility study of the Dhaka Integrated Flood Control Embankment cum Eastern Bypass project last Wednesday where it called for more critical analysis before implementation.

The Water Development Board (WDB), the project-implementing agency, said that the provision would be made for both natural and artificial drainage systems and a number of retention ponds.

"But our apprehension from previous experiences of DND (Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra) and western embankments, is that no provision of retention ponds and drainage systems work effectively," said Prof Islam, also the vice president of the Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (Bapa) and a Geography teacher at Dhaka University (DU).

"The WDB failed to maintain water retention ponds and use canals and reservoirs effectively in the last decade," he further said. "No one can guarantee continuous power supply to run pumps to drain water out of the embankments. We are against any further embankment around Dhaka," he added.

"We are studying the pros and cons of the project further to determine what impact it will have on the people," said Sharif Rafiqul Islam, WDB's director general (DG).

"We will let the people know what the government will do to mitigate the possible sufferings the project may cause," he said.

The DG added that the study to upgrade the project is on, and the WDB will finalise the report by June and float it on the web site for a month-long public debate, and the updated project will be placed for approval and funding by August, he said.

With 360 square kilometres (sq km) of the metropolitan area cordoned off, upstream water will not enter the city and will flow by outside Dhaka. As a result, surrounding villages in the city's eastern and western fringes and Rajuk's Purbachal housing project will face severe water logging, sources said.

The embankment will facilitate rapid development of the area but prompt huge human habitation causing environmental degradation.

The project area is criss-crossed with more than 20 canals that have been saving the city by draining out Dhaka's excessive rain and floodwater.

Three-fourths of the area remains under water during the rainy season, but the project provides for water retention ponds in 15 percent of the area only, sources said.

Bapa in its comment said that the project must be in keeping with the Rajuk's Structure Plan of 1995 and in compliance with the Dhaka Transport Co-ordination Board's (DTCB) plan.

"The DTCB's proposed bypass road connecting the north-south stretch between the River Balu and Pragati Sarani reduces the necessity of the eastern bypass road," said an official of communications ministry requesting anonymity.

The 28-kilometre flood control embankment in the Dhaka's eastern fringe will stretch from Tongi to Demra on the right bank of the Balu.

The construction of the embankment in the eastern part of greater Dhaka and a bypass is expected to prevent floodwater and ease traffic congestion.

Total area of the project is 124 sq km and it exceeds one third of the Dhaka Metropolitan area.

A technical feasibility study on the project was conducted in 1996-97, and upgraded by an international consultant Halcrow Group Limited, that Halcrow estimated the total cost of the project at Tk 2,070 crore.

The DND embankment was an agricultural project, but has turned into an unplanned residential area facing massive water logging.