Rivers around the city are at risk of becoming even more polluted because of delay in a sewerage project.

Failure to implement another scheme to rehabilitate a trunk sewer line to the city's only waste treatment plant threatens the rivers all the more.

As these two major projects

wait in the sideline, the city's solid waste is being dumped into the rivers, mainly the Buriganga.

Officials of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) say they have been unable to raise the Tk 1,200 crore needed for the two projects-- North Dhaka (east) Sewerage Construction, and Improvement of Sewerage System in Dhaka City.

Last year, China offered supplier's credit for the con-

struction of the Tk 987.95 crore North Dhaka (east) sewerage project.

But the government turned it down because of unfavourable terms.

WASA officials still believe that Beijing can be convinced to make the funds available in the form of a soft loan.

Japanese funds for the Tk 200 crore rehabilitation project -Improvement of Sewerage System in Dhaka City -- were held back after disagreement over KAFCO. But WASA officials are optimistic about securing the funds from Japan through a debt relief grant (DRG).

WASA officials said one-third of the city -- mostly south and old Dhaka -- is now covered by the Pagla sewerage treatment plant.

But Uttara, Baridhara, Badda, Rampura, parts of Kalyanpur, Mohammadpur, and the cantonment areas are yet to come under the sewer network.

The North Dhaka (east) sewerage project is supposed to cover these places. With its completion, 75 per cent of the city area will come under the sewer network.

Residents of many areas have linked their sewer lines with the surface drains, built to carry rain water only, in the absence of the sewer network. This pollutes the rivers and canals around the city.

Under the sewerage system improvement project, one of the two trunk lines of Pagla sewerage plant is supposed to be rehabilitated.

The Pagla plant has a capacity to treat 1.20 lakh cubic metres of sewer daily, but only 50 to 55 thousand meters goes into it owing to leakage and damage in one of the trunk lines in different areas including Tejgaon to Bashabo and Jurain to Pagla. As a result, 65 to 70 thousand cubic metres of sewer flows into the city's water-bodies including the Buriganga.

If it continues, say WASA experts, water pollution will assume unmanageable proportions in near future.