Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s directive to take coordinated steps to curb pollution in Dhaka’s rivers, improve drainage, and ensure normal water flow by maintaining navigability is timely and goes straight to the heart of an all-too-familiar problem.
Thus, while the government is deciding to allow interested private companies to operate water bus services on waterways around Dhaka, this initiative will mean little if the rivers themselves remain choked, polluted, and unnavigable.
It is a shame how our capital’s waterways have continued to deteriorate; encroachment continues unchecked, industrial waste is not regulated, and drainage canals are clogged with plastic and construction debris.
Introducing or enhancing our network of water transport thus requires reviving the waterways on which they will operate first. That means coordinated action -- not isolated, short‑term clean‑ups.
To curb pollution, enforcement must be uncompromising while factories dumping untreated waste must face real penalties, not warnings. Encroachers must be removed permanently, not temporarily and drainage systems must be redesigned so the water actually flows into rivers without carrying urban garbage.
Improving drainage is equally critical. Dhaka’s canals have been narrowed, filled, or built over, and we have seen how it has left the city vulnerable to waterlogging due to preventing natural water flow. Restoring these canals is therefore not just an environmental task but essential to improving our urban infrastructure.
Reviving river transport is possible but only if Dhaka restores the waterways themselves. The PM’s directive is a positive step because it also focuses on the structural issues, not cosmetic fixes.
However, much like most issues in our country, it is implementation that will determine whether this becomes another unrealized promise or a turning point for Dhaka’s waterways.
