The Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) has decided to revise its project plan to prevent waterlogging in the port city after experts said it was “flawed”.

The earlier plan recommended the extension, renovation, and development of only 36 canals, but the revised plan will reportedly include 57.

At the same time, the project cost will rise from Tk. 5,616.50 crore to over Tk. 7,000 crore. The Engineering Corps of the Army will start implementing the project from January 2018, said CDA sources. It is expected to be completed by June 2020.

The technical committee that was formed to revise the project has made the recommendations. The committee included the representatives of the ministries of local government and rural development (LGRD), housing and public works, and water resources, and the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC)

On August 9, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved a Tk. 5,616.50 crore project to solve Chittagong’s waterlogging problem. Soon after that, city planners and representatives of the civil society called it a “flawed project” (The Independent had published the report titled ‘Project to solve Ctg waterlogging “flawed”’ on August 23).

These experts explained that since the project had not followed the updated drainage master plan of the Chittagong Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (CWASA), it would not solve the waterlogging problem. CWASA had designed the drainage master plan in 2016 with the same purpose—to solve the waterlogging problem in Chittagong.

The CWASA drainage master plan contained a proposal to clean and renovate 57 canals of the city and remove 14 lakh cubic metres of waste matter and soil from these. But the CDA’s plan proposed to clean only 36 canals and to remove only 9.5 lakh cubic metres of waste matter and soil from these canals.

The CWASA master plan intended to set up 24 tidal regulators at the mouths of 24 canals that enter the Karnaphuli and Halda. But in its plan, the CDA proposed to set up only 12 water-regulators at the mouths of 12 of these canals. The experts argued that if the mouths of 12 canals remained open, tidal waters could still easily enter the city and inundate it.

Finally, the government directed that the project should be implemented in an integrated manner. The LGRD, housing and public works, and water resources ministries, along with the CCC, would also be part of the project. The CDA would not bear the sole responsibility for the project.

Following the directions of LGRD Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain on August 12 and 14, the CCC, CDA, and CWASA held two review meetings and formed a technical committee. “The members of the technical committee met several times. Based on the CDA’s master plan of 1995 and the CWASA’s master plan of 2016, the committee has decided to implement a revised project,” said CDA chairman Abdus Salam.

“Since this is a big project, some amendments have been made to it with the suggestions of the organisations concerned and under the direction of the ministry. Earlier, the CDA had proposed to clean only 302 km of drains on a regular basis and expand 15 drains. Now it has revised the figure to 500 km of drains to be cleaned on a regular basis. Earlier, it had proposed to build 10 km of concrete drains. Now, it has been revised to 100 km,” he

 added.

CDA executive engineer Ahmed Moinuddin said: “Now the project has been revised according to the decision of the technical committee. The recommendations have been sent to the ministry concerned.

We hope the revised plan will be effective in solving the waterlogging problem of the port city.”