The Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) recently completed construction of the Dasherkandi sewage treatment plant, but the plant has been unable to conduct its operations due to a lack of drainage networks in the capital.
Dhaka Wasa aims to treat the sewage of Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara, Bashundhara, Badda, Bhatara, Kuril, the Sangsad Bhaban area, Shukrabad, Farmgate, Tejgaon, Aftabnagar, Niketan, Hatirjheel and surrounding areas at the plant. However, sewerage lines of these areas are not directly connected with the Dasherkandi sewage treatment plant yet, and Dhaka Wasa is working on the connections.
According to Dhaka Wasa, the date for the official launch of Dasherkandi sewage treatment plant has not been fixed yet, but the plant itself is now functional. It is currently treating the water of the Rampura canals, which are contaminated with sewage from various nearby areas.
Dhaka Wasa sources said they have 20% sewerage coverage at the moment, which is being treated at the Pagla sewage treatment plant. The actual amount of waste treated is only about 10%, as most of the drains in the capital are broken or clogged as they were constructed 30 years ago. A significant amount of sewage flows into rivers.
The construction of new treatment plants will not bring about any benefits until the drainage network is improved, they added.
Dasherkandi sewage treatment plant was approved by the government around seven years ago at a cost of Tk980 crore. Construction work of the project started in 2018 and was completed in the middle of this year, after several deadline extensions and with the cost rising to Tk3,712crore.
Wasa needs 6 years to build the sewerage drainage network
Although the treatment plant is ready, Dhaka Wasa needs 5/6 years to connect the sewage drainage network with the Dasherkandi treatment plant. The development of the network has been hampered by a lack of funding.
“People are paying for the wrong decisions of the officials of Dhaka Wasa. People have to pay for the faulty design by the Wasa officials as they have no accountability,” said Sharif Jamil, general secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (Bapa).
“The design is not actually faulty. It is also not correct that the project has been implemented without a sewage collection network. A sewer connection from Sonargaon point in Hatirjheel to Rampura Bridge has been made,” said AKM Shahid Uddin, acting managing director of Dhaka Wasa.
“The sewage connection from the Gulshan-Banani area goes through Police Plaza to Rampura Bridge. Water and sewage of these sewers are mixing in the Rampura Canal. The water of that canal is being purified in the Dasherkandi sewage treatment plant. The network will be expanded,” he added.
“Due to a weak sewerage network, sewage is mixing with canals. However, it is being partially treated by the new treatment plant. Sewage is mostly floating to Rampura canal through five connecting canals,” he said.
