Mitigating Dhaka’s waterlogging: DNCC mayor inaugurates excavation of 1.8km canal

Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Atiqul Islam yesterday inaugurated excavation work of a 1.8km canal -- stretching from Ashkona Hajj camp to Banorupa Housing at Khilkhet -- to reduce waterlogging problem of adjoining areas.

The canal, which belongs to the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), cannot flow smoothly due to obstacles at different points. This results in waterlogging at different areas including Ashkona, Prembagan and near Hajj camp, said officials.

"Residents [of those areas] blamed the city corporation for waterlogging. This portion of the city has been built in an unplanned way. People built houses here and there, without leaving options for rainwater to recede," the mayor said while inaugurating the work in the graveyard area of CAAB.

Different housing companies are also not following guidelines, he said.

"We are excavating the canal to help locals, even though we have a shortage of funds. It is the duty of CAAB to the job and they should do it properly," the mayor said.

Atiqul also said residents of some areas in Moghbazar are facing a waterlogging crisis due to unclean drains of Dhaka Wasa. But locals blame the city corporation, he said.

Mentioning CAAB and Wasa, the mayor said, "Either you take the responsibility to solve the problem or give us the fund to solve it."

The Tk 3 crore excavation project will finish within the next 3 weeks, he hoped.

In March 2019, the mayor initiated a drive to free Ashkona, Uttarkhan and Dakkhinkhan areas from waterlogging, caused mainly by landfill and sludge, through excavating a retention canal.

Multiple housing companies and some locals are responsible for such disastrous activities. But neither CAAB nor Wasa executed the decision to excavate the retention canal, thus putting locals in peril for the past 15 months.

A DNCC official said there is no drainage system in the above-mentioned areas.

Floodplains have been filled up by a housing company and others hindering natural flow of sewerage and stormwater up to the Balu river, he said.

"If we can connect the retention canal from the culvert at Ashkona with the AD-8 canal project, residents of the newly-included wards will be free from year-long waterlogging," he said. "We have to excavate 485 metres and remove 27,000 cubic metres of soil. We need to clean the sludge of the rest bypassing the CAAB graveyard," he added.

Another DNCC official said urban sprawl has taken place in the city's eastern fringe, filling up floodplains and obstructing the normal flow of water.

Such mindless acts at various points create waterlogging in the metropolis, he added.