Metro rail construction damaged drainage system of Dhaka South areas: Chief waste management officer

The Dhaka South City Corporation’s drainage systems have been damaged due to the construction work of metro rail, said Mohammad Nasim Ahmed, chief waste management officer of the corporation. 

“Due to the construction work of the metro rail, our drainage systems in Karwan Bazar, Banglamotor, Shahbagh, Paltan, and Motijheel areas have been damaged. Hence, the inconvenience has increased this year,” he told The Business Standard when asked whether the capability to solve waterlogging in Dhaka South has decreased over the past few years. 

“Additionally, due to the works of other agencies, blockages in our drains have occurred in areas like Kamalapur and Sayedabad. We are continuously working on development projects to solve these problems,” he added. 

With 130 millimetres of rainfall in six hours from 6am to 12pm today, many roads in the capital have been inundated.

Claiming that no city in the world is capable of removing such heavy rainfall water within three to four hours, the chief waste management officer said, “All our workers are working on solving the waterlogging. Our pumps are operational. If the weather remains normal, the water in many areas will recede by the evening.”

He said, “We have taken several plans to recover the canals and improve the drainage system, and the work is ongoing. We hope the city residents will see these benefits within the next one or two years.”

Blaming the city residents for waterlogging, Nasim said, “The city’s residents are not conscious. They encroach on canals, dump plastic waste in drains, blocking them, and then blame the city corporation.” 

“There are certainly weaknesses in our work. But the existing infrastructure would have been sufficient to solve Dhaka’s waterlogging if the city’s residents were conscious,” he added.