The Kallyanpur Retention Pond is most definitely one of the more promising projects revealed by the Dhaka North City Corporation in the last few years. The project aims to solve Dhaka's waterlogging issues by acting as a functional drainage system in addition to its primary offer of providing an ecological breathing space for the denizens of the capital.
Given that Dhaka is now witnessing inordinate rainfall that is bound to give way to waterlogging, it is high time we asked: What exactly is going on with the project?
According to reports, the deadline for the Kallyanpur Retention Pond has now been extended to to December 31, 2023 from its earlier 2022 target due to complications with canal boundaries, while various illegal structures were also found -- some belonging to the government, ironically.
It is nothing short of a shame that a plan as ambitious and promising as the retention pond is now being stalled due to our age-old problems: Corruption and needless bureaucracy. If built and implemented in a timely manner, the Kallyanpur Retention Pond project stands to greatly reduce water-logging in areas such as Kallyanpur, Mohammadpur, Gabtoli, Darus Salam, and a portion of greater Mirpur.
Despite the seasonal nature of rainfall in Bangladesh, we fail to stop waterlogging each and every year. How are we always unprepared for this?
We understand that the issue is indeed highly technical, however, citizens have been dealing with waterlogging for far too long and for projects which promise to mitigate the issue to be stalled is nothing short of unacceptable.
Dhaka's water-logging issues will not be eliminated immediately, but the administration needs to ensure that it is being pro-active in this regard.