Chattogram Bureau :
An architect and also a teacher of a prominent private university recently visited Chattogram City termed as commercial capital of Bangladesh and faced bitter experiences due to its miserable condition.
He arrived city’s Shah Amanat International airport and it took him two and a half hours to reach his home in the town. The distance was about 10 miles. His sister-in-law took over four hours to reach the same distance previous day. He said this is the state of affairs in Chattagram.
He observed that the Chattogram is an orphan city now. Explaining his experience the teacher Adnana Morshed wrote an article. We are inserting interesting portion of his experience and observation for the readers.While visiting the old town recently, he wondered ‘What does it take to restore the Chaktai canal, the backbone of the port city’s drainage system?
While the city fails to revive its life-sustaining canal network, Chittagong City Corporation is happily building a mega-swimming pool (with paid membership?), sacrificing the once-picturesque outer stadium in Kajir Dewri, next to MA Aziz Stadium, he pointed out.
Here is an example from the orphaned city. The mayor recently said: It is not the responsibility of the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) to fix the city’s waterlogging problem, but we would be happy to help out whoever tries to solve the crisis. When the mayor makes such a statement it in the budget session recently. . Consider the city’s perennial water-logging problem. Nobody seems to have a genuine desire to solve it. The most devastating water-logging in Chittagong of recent times, in June 2014, should have been a wake-up call. The submerged areas of Bakalia, Chawkbazar, Agrabad, Halish-ahar, Kapasgola, Chandgaon, Shulakbahar, Bahaddarhat and Probartak intersection became a climate-change icon around the world. But we know that we can’t blame it on global warming and excessive rain alone.
It is also a spectacular failure of the city’s urban administration, or rather its absence. Four thousand years ago, the Indus Valley Civilisation probably had a better water management system! Chattagram continues to go underwater even after moderate rain.
And, the authorities in charge of the city’s water management-CWASA, CCC, Bangladesh Water Development Board, Chittagong Port Authority, and Chittagong Development Authority-blame each other and shirk their responsibilities.
And, since then, drainage planning has been developed, without any integration with ongoing land-use planning, and often as a reactive solution when water-logging started to become Chattagram’s constant urban problem. Politically-driven ad hoc planning made the city into a permanent band-aid urban agglomeration.
What went wrong? What did Chattagram do to deserve this? With a population of about eight million, Chattagram is Bangladesh’s second largest city, and the main sea port of Bangladesh. The city hosts about 9.4 percent of the country’s urban population and nine percent of urban economic establishments.
An architect and also a teacher of a prominent private university recently visited Chattogram City termed as commercial capital of Bangladesh and faced bitter experiences due to its miserable condition.
He arrived city’s Shah Amanat International airport and it took him two and a half hours to reach his home in the town. The distance was about 10 miles. His sister-in-law took over four hours to reach the same distance previous day. He said this is the state of affairs in Chattagram.
He observed that the Chattogram is an orphan city now. Explaining his experience the teacher Adnana Morshed wrote an article. We are inserting interesting portion of his experience and observation for the readers.While visiting the old town recently, he wondered ‘What does it take to restore the Chaktai canal, the backbone of the port city’s drainage system?
While the city fails to revive its life-sustaining canal network, Chittagong City Corporation is happily building a mega-swimming pool (with paid membership?), sacrificing the once-picturesque outer stadium in Kajir Dewri, next to MA Aziz Stadium, he pointed out.
Here is an example from the orphaned city. The mayor recently said: It is not the responsibility of the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) to fix the city’s waterlogging problem, but we would be happy to help out whoever tries to solve the crisis. When the mayor makes such a statement it in the budget session recently. . Consider the city’s perennial water-logging problem. Nobody seems to have a genuine desire to solve it. The most devastating water-logging in Chittagong of recent times, in June 2014, should have been a wake-up call. The submerged areas of Bakalia, Chawkbazar, Agrabad, Halish-ahar, Kapasgola, Chandgaon, Shulakbahar, Bahaddarhat and Probartak intersection became a climate-change icon around the world. But we know that we can’t blame it on global warming and excessive rain alone.
It is also a spectacular failure of the city’s urban administration, or rather its absence. Four thousand years ago, the Indus Valley Civilisation probably had a better water management system! Chattagram continues to go underwater even after moderate rain.
And, the authorities in charge of the city’s water management-CWASA, CCC, Bangladesh Water Development Board, Chittagong Port Authority, and Chittagong Development Authority-blame each other and shirk their responsibilities.
And, since then, drainage planning has been developed, without any integration with ongoing land-use planning, and often as a reactive solution when water-logging started to become Chattagram’s constant urban problem. Politically-driven ad hoc planning made the city into a permanent band-aid urban agglomeration.
What went wrong? What did Chattagram do to deserve this? With a population of about eight million, Chattagram is Bangladesh’s second largest city, and the main sea port of Bangladesh. The city hosts about 9.4 percent of the country’s urban population and nine percent of urban economic establishments.
