The port city’s enduring water logging problem will be a major issue for mayoral candidates contesting the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) elections scheduled for April 28.
In a bid to attract voters, candidates are analysing the actions taken by the CCC on the issue over the last five years and unveiling their own plans to solve the problem, sources said.
CCC sources said incumbent Mayor M Manjur Alam had implemented projects worth Tk147 crore to deal with water logging.
His predecessor, ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, spent more than Tk1,000 crore during his three consecutive tenures at the helm of the port city’s administration, CCC sources said.
Despite the heavy expenditure, water logging remains a major problem for Chittagong city residents in the rainy season, sources said, adding that many residential, commercial and industrial areas remain flooded by tidal water even during the dry season because of poor drainage systems.
Former town planner Professor Engineer Ali Ashraf Chowdhury, who heads the Civil Engineering Department of Southern University, told the Dhaka Tribune that huge sums had been spent, but not in accordance with the Drainage Master Plan of 1995.
“Water logging is a major problem for the commercial capital of the country and will be considered the prime issue in the upcoming CCC polls,” he said.
Challenging the mayors’ claims of not getting the required funding from the government, he said they had failed to demand funding systematically.
Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) Chairman Abdus Salam said if the CCC could implement half of the Master Plan, the problem would be significantly reduced.
He said the 20-year time line to implement the Master Plan ended this year without any major development in solving the problem.
“Residents of the city will select the candidate they feel can actually solve this problem,” he added.
Of the city’s 22 canals, most do not flow properly because they have been illegally occupied and are not being preserved, CCC sources said.
The CDA chairman said if canals are properly preserved and the Master Plan is implemented, the water logging problem can be eradicated.
Mayor Manjur, the incumbent CCC chief, and also the adviser of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, said only the CCC can do the job.
“I have taken many steps during my tenure, including canal digging and purchasing modern machines to dredge canals. We dug three canals and repaired many others. We need combined and proper planning to solve the problem,” he said, claiming the water logging problem had been reduced more during his tenure than at any other time.
Refuting Mayor Manjur’s claims, former mayor Mohiuddin Chowdhury asked: “How can the problem be claimed to have been reduced if a half-an-hour shower during the rainy season leaves most of the city flooded?”
Ruling party nominee, AL Chittagong city unit general secretary AJM Nasir Uddin, said he would prioritise the issue.