With Cyclone Sitrang having made an appearance on our shores a few days ago, one of the most persistent issues that plague our capital city has once again been exposed -- water-logging.
Which begs us to question: Exactly how is Bangladesh expected to achieve its middle-income aspirations when our administration is constantly defeated by such a fundamental problem every year?
Dhaka's water-logging issues appear to get worse every year, and it is unacceptable that its citizens have to suffer through it year after year. With each passing year, we hear of plans being made to mitigate water-logging, but are yet to see them implemented in any meaningful, effective way.
Our country has been showcasing massive development ambition to the world, with complex infrastructural projects being recently completed and even more in the pipeline. However, it is hard to imagine a city being considered developed when the government has failed time and again to solve a problem as rudimentary as water-logging.
Last year, the DNCC revealed an ambitious plan in the form of the Kallyanpur Retention Pond, which was to offset a lot of the water-logging that Dhaka experiences during the monsoon season. What exactly happened to that project?
Bangladesh is a nation of heavy rainfall, but it is also a nation of canals and rivers which provide a natural mechanism to deal with excess water. And yet, unfortunately, due to a complete lack of planning, rampant encroachment, and administrative mismanagement, we have failed to capitalize on any of our natural advantages.
We can indeed come up with forward thinking ideas to tackle water-logging at the root, as conceptualized in the form of the Kallyanpur Retention Pond, but it's not enough to simply make plans. Timely implementation of such plans is the need of the hour.