Photo : Collected
Planners and environmentalists have said that the Roads and Bridges Division has been destroying the city’s livability and environment further by filling the Hatirjheel water retention area – thereby flouting all the laws, planning and proper procedures in recent times for construction of the connecting roads of elevated expressway project from Karwanbazar to Palashy in the capital.
They said the construction of a link road for the newly-elevated expressway upto Palashy has been undertaken without any planning impact analysis, which, they said, will seriously undermine the overall objective and utility of the Hatirjheel project, a place ranked fourth cool place in Dhaka and a recreational site for its dwellers.
The authorities concerned are not discharging their duties although various development projects are undertaken one after another by destroying playgrounds, waterbodies and parks.
These are the issues highlighted in a webinar titled “Planning Impact of Elevated Expressway on Hatirjheel, Panthokunja Park and Adjacent Areas: IPD’s Observations,’' organised by the Institute for Planning and Development (IPD) on Saturday (13 May).
The total length of the elevated expressway is 46 kilometre of which main 20 km road will be from Airport to Jatarbari (Kutubkhali). The remaining 26 km will be various ramps at different points, which were not included in the masterplan.
In his keynote presentation, IPD Executive Director Professor Adil Muhammad Khan said that filling of Hatirjheel water retention area for the development of Dhaka Elevated Expressway is a clear violation of the Waterbodies Conservation Act 2013. The filling will destroy the natural beauty, water flow and overall utility of Hatirjheel.
Planner Adil said that an extension link of the expressway will pass over Hatirjheel. This alignment has not yet been approved by Rajuk. This was not in the original plan for the elevated expressway.
“The purpose of this expressway was to bypass Dhaka city and avoid traffic jams. But this expressway has entered inside Dhaka by creating a way up and down thus creating a chaos and traffic congestion which has been done for commercial gains,” he said.
“If this process is not stopped, apart from destroying the Panthokunja Park, the utility of the existing road up to Palashy will also be destroyed and the livelihood of the people of the area will be disrupted,” said Prof Adil, adding: “This arrangement to bring back investment in megaprojects and allow private cars which are used by only 5 percent people, is all set to destroy the city.
Prof Adil noted that the roads and bridges division has not taken any NOC from environment department and Rajuk which is the custodian of the Hatirjheel.
“We see here a motor scale development planning approach instead of human scale city planning in case of elevated expressway,” said Adil.
According to the observation of IPD, the plan of this extension link of elevated expressway has been accepted without discussion and coordination with Rajuk, two city corporations of Dhaka, Bangladesh Railway and related organizations. Expressways are high speed transport services, but through this extension, expressways are intended to be used as local transport services. This will hamper the traffic flow in the surrounding areas and increase the traffic congestion.
Aktar Mahmood, IPD Advisor and Professor of Urban and Regional Planning department at Jahangirnagar University, said there is a double standard in planning and implementation in the development activities of the city. On one hand, they talk about greenery and fell trees on the other hand. They talk about a pedestrian-friendly city with wide footpath, but they cut down footpaths in the name of widening roads.
Aktar Mahmud said the expressway has its own character. But this expressway of Dhaka is entering the densely populated area. The question is whether the ramps inside the city are needed or not and is it being done through conducting feasibility studies. Dhaka Transport Coordinating Authority (DTCA) is supposed to coordinate all transport related works in Dhaka, but they are not able to do their job.
IPD director Ariful Islam said that the decision to undertake a communication infrastructure project is taken first, then a survey or feasibility check is done to validate it. Big mega projects are taken up for the 5 percent of people who travel by private car; but the rest 95 percent of the people suffer from its bad effects.
Professor Ahmed Kamruzzaman Majumdar, Chairperson of the Department of Environmental Science of Stamford University, said that the expressway project is being organized to kill Hatirjheel, which is the lung of Dhaka, according to the High Court. The 41 pillars of the expressway are like 41 nails in the chest of Hatirjheel. If this project is implemented, the temperature of Hatirjheel, one of the coolest areas in Dhaka, will increase to a large extent.
“I don’t see expressway is being implemented to improve the transport sector of the country rather to destroy the environment,” he said, adding: “Hatirjheel is the 4th cool place in Dhaka after Botanical Garden, Chandrima Udyan and Cantonment area with as low as 4 degree celcius temperature than Farmgate, Tejgaon and Motijheel during Summer.”
TDM/SD
