Incessant rain on Wednesday again sent different areas of Chattogram city under water for the second day running, seriously disrupting normal life and causing immense suffering to city dwellers.
The Patenga Meteorological Office recorded 60 millimetres of rainfall in Chattogram in 24 hours until 12:00 noon Wednesday.
Roads in Prabartak, Dui Number Gate, Chawkbazar and Katalganj localities went under water, almost stalling vehicular movement and causing terrible suffering to the residents.
Taufiqul Alam, a resident of Chawkbazar area, said that the lanes in the area went under knee-deep water whenever there was rain, causing filthy water from overflowing drains to enter houses.
‘In such a situation going to market or going out for work feels like hell,’ said a frustrated Taufiq.
Chattogram city mayor Shahadat Hossain visited the area near the Prabartak crossing on Wednesday morning.
Explaining the reason for the water stagnation, the mayor told journalists that preparations were under way ahead of the rainy season likely to prolong.
The initiative suffered delays as many people went to the court to save their buildings facing demolition for the project work to progress, he said.
The city authorities could progress with the work only after the petitions had been disposed of by the court, he added.
The authorities concerned had been asked to remove the temporary dams placed in canals to ease the water flow that would help stagnated water to recede from roads and neighbourhoods, the mayor said.
The Chattogram Development Authority, CDA in short, has been implementing a massive project titled ‘Re-excavation, extension, renovation and development of the canals in Chattogram city to address the water stagnation problem’ since 2018 under which development work is being carrying out on a network of 36 canals to solve the city’s water stagnation problem.
Officials concerned said that temporary dams were built on some of the canals to divert the water flow for carrying out the project’s infrastructure development works, which led to water stagnation in many areas in the city in the ongoing rainy weather.
‘We will sit with all service-providing agencies tomorrow (Thursday) and take decisions on the next course of action,’ the mayor said, adding that most of the dams had already been removed.
Saying that the water stagnation became severe as it rained continuously for four to five hours on Tuesday, the mayor remarked that there was no reason for panic.
He said that in the backdrop prolonged monsoon the country was experiencing in the recent years preparations were under way.
‘Last year, we were able to reduce water stagnation by 50 to 60 per cent. This year, we will be able to reduce it by 70 to 80 per cent,’ he hoped.
‘We have taken up work to clean 1,600 kilometres of drains and all the works will be completed by May,’ the mayor said.
The project, being implemented by the CDA and the Bangladesh Army’s 34 Construction Brigade in coordination with the Chattogram City Corporation, was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council in 2017.
The initial cost of the project was estimated at Tk 5,616 crore with the deadline set for June 2023, later to be revised in November 2023.
The revised project cost was increased to Tk 8,626 crore with the deadline extended to June 2026.
The implementation work began on April 28, 2018 through the removal of waste from Chashma Canal.
The project includes the construction of 163 kilometres of retaining walls, 115 bridges and culverts, 27 silt traps, six regulators, 23.20 kilometres of new drains, 36.87km of roads along the canals and the expansion of 90.50km of drains.
Till the first week of March this year, the overall progress of the project was 95 per cent with work on 26 canals fully completed, while 87–97 per cent work finished on seven canals.
