The Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) dam will continue to face various difficulties until the two ministries - water resource and local government division – resolve their differences over development plans for the area.
The Ministry of Water Resource is eager to hand over responsibility to the Local Government Division (LGD), under the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development & Co-operatives. However, the LGD is reluctant to take charge of the area.
An unplanned residential area has mushroomed around the embankment, but the area is prone to water logging and lacks adequate roads and drainage, causing various difficulties for residents.
The DND embankment area comprises Matuail, Konapara, Par Dogair, Mogholpara, Rasulpur, Dholeshwar, Adarshapara, Sarulia, Dogair, Deillah, Munsibagh, Baghmara, Boxnagar, Sarulia Bahir Tengra, Kandapara and Mredhabari.
The water resources ministry was responsible for an irrigation project in the area, which is no longer viable with urban development taking over the land. The ministry is therefore keen for the LGD to take responsibility, but the LGD is reluctant because it is concerned about the cost of developing the area.
On September 18, an inter-ministerial meeting attended by ministry and LGD officials, representatives of Dhaka South and Narayanganj city corporations, and Wasa (Water Supply and Sewerage Authority) failed to reach an amicable solution.
The LGD continues to balk at the thought of taking charge of the area, however they did agree to look after the area’s development until a final decision is reached by all concerned. Until a meeting is called again in a month’s time, nothing can be finalised said sources who attended the meeting.
According to sources, Parimal Chandra Saha, joint secretary of the water resources ministry, said because the DND dam area is no longer suitable as an irrigation project and also because the ministry does not have the resources to meet urban residential needs, it would make sense for the local government to take over.
Abu Alam Md Shahid Khan, secretary of LGD, however said at least Tk50b would be required to develop the area; residences would have to be resettled while the land is refilled, and they don’t have the money either. He said: “We don’t have enough resources to maintain development expenditures for the area. So, how could we take responsibility?”
Nearly 2m residents might have to be relocated if development work is started in the area. In the meantime, local residents continue to suffer because of the authorities’ indecisions, which might only be resolved when high level officials take matters into their hands and a concrete decision is reached.
To resolve the difficulties faced by the residents of such an unplanned residential area, a decision was taken in 2008 to hand responsibility to the LGD.
A series of inter-ministerial meetings followed but officials failed to come to any understanding by resolving their differences so that residents of the DND dam area can hope for better days. The LGD continues to be reluctant about taking responsibility for infrastructural development in the unplanned residential areas.
The DND dam’s construction began in 1962 and was completed in 1968, with the land placed under an irrigation project so it could be used to cultivate at least three harvests annually.
The Bangladesh Water Development Board even proposed a Tk2.35b project to improve livelihood of people from the area in 2005, which was based on field studies conducted by JICA in 1992, but was not given government approval.