The Lake Development Project of Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara and Uttara has remained pending with the Planning Commission since the submission of the project concept paper by Rajuk in 2000.

"We submitted the project concept paper to the Planning Commission in 2000 and still awaiting approval from them," said Rajuk's Chief Engineer Emdadul Islam.

"The Lake Development Project gets priority from the Prime minister's office," added the chief engineer.

The project was designed to protect water bodies of Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara and Uttara under the Wetland Protection Act 2000. With land-grabbers encroaching the areas surrounding the lakes, the project has not seen the light of day. Part of the Banani Lake has been grabbed recently.

The marshy area was filled in and bamboo poles were sunk to cordon the area on Road No. 23/C. Rajuk demarcated 250 acres of the lake area in Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara and Uttara at an estimated cost of Tk 105 crore.

"Two hundred acres of the total lake areas are in Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara and 50 acres in Uttara," said Zahid Hassan Faruque, director of the Lake and Bridge Development Project.

According to the project concept paper, the project will help in the beautification of the city, conserve wetland, open spaces and natural environment, improve social and civic amenities, develop amusement facilities and reduce traffic jam.

"We need to widen the bridges over these lakes with the increasing traffic. As the bridges are narrow, they cause a bottle neck in traffic resulting in congestion," the project director said.

The reconstruction of bridges and culverts is estimated to cost Tk 33.68 crore. The bridges are to be constructed at six points -Gulshan 2 to Baridhara link, Gulshan 1 to Badda link, Kemal Ataturk to Gulshan 2, Shooting Club to Badda, Mohakhali to Gulshan 1 and Manarat School to Badda.

Rajuk has to acquire land at a cost of Tk 38.74 crore to build walkways along the lake in Badda as this area does not fall under Rajuk's jurisdiction.

The breakdown of the esti-

mated cost shows that Tk 28.93 crore is set aside for lake development including construction of walkways along the demarcated lake area, lakeside protection,

afforestation and amusement facilities like cruising.

The reconstruction cost includes drainage, inspection pits, shifting of gas pipes and

electrical poles and lines. The consultation fee is estimated at Tk 1.27 crore, which includes measuring water quality of the lake and how to retain its quality and

managing waste water.

The consultant's job will include finalisation of the inventory of the ownership of lake land and land adjacent to the lake.

The contingency cost is estimated at Tk 50 lakh. Meanwhile, Rajuk has already constructed a walkway along part of the Gulshan and Uttara lakes from

their own funds. "The implementation of this project is imperative to stop lake encroachment," the chief engineer said.