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Wasa’s reservoir gets encroached

Construction in restricted zone makes Kalyanpur pump station project uncertain

Helemul Alam
The second phase of die Kalyanpur pump station project, aimed at improving water logging in the western part of die capital, might not generate expected results due to unabated urbanisation inside die restricted area for building a water-retention reservoir.
The main objective of die project, initiated 17 years ago, is to ease water logging in the surrounding areas by retaining excess surface water in a large reservoir and pumping it out into the River Buriganga.
Dhaka VVasa (Water and Sewerage Authority) is implementing die project with funds made available by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The areas to be benefited by the project are a large section of Mirpur. Kalyanpur, Kazipara, Shewrapara, Agargaon, Sangsad Bhaban area, Mohammadpur, Rayer Bazar and areas adjacent to Rokeya Sarani, BDR Pilkhana and Satmasjid Road, said an official at Dhaka Wasa.
Although JICA in a study prepared in 1990 recommended installing two pumps with the capacity of pumping out 10 cubic
metre of water per second and building of a water-retention reservoir on 514 acres of land, die government had to deviate the initial layout of die project several times and reduce die size of die proposed reservoir, jeopardising the very objective of the project.
On February 11, 2007, the land ministry decided to acquire only 112.68 acres of land for die reservoir, the Wasa official said.
Nevertiieless, the government so far has failed to acquire the necessary land and hand it over to Dhaka Wasa, making way for private urban developments inside die proposed area of the reservoir.
Moreover, die government is considering reducing die size of the reservoir even further, said sources adding that the eight-member committee, formed to assess and recommend an effective solution to the issue, is likely to recommend reduction of the reservoir size.
The committee was formed on May 11 this year at an inter-ministerial meeting of Planning Commission and it failed to submit its report on the scheduled date of May 25, said the sources.
Dhaka Wasa has already installed one of the two pumps in
1993 and it is currently installing the second pump at a cost ofTk 78 crore under the second phase of the project, to be completed by June 2009, said the Wasa official.
If the area of the reservoir is reduced and the flow of surface water into the reservoir is obstructed due to the development of structures in the vicinity, the installing of the two expensive pumps will not ensure success of the Kalyanpur pump station project, said Raihanul Abedin, managing director of Dhaka Wasa.
M Altaf Hossain, a member secretary of the committee formed at the inter-ministerial meeting, said, "We didn't submit the report yet and we will submit it by this month."
When asked if the committee is going to recommend reduction of tiie reservoir size, Altaf, also the joint chief of physical infrastructure planning, water supply and housing wing-1 of the Planning Commission, declined to make any comment before submitting the report.
A Wasa official cautioned saying that if the size of the reservoir is reduced and structures are developed around it, water logging
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situation in the western part of Dhaka will worsen.
Prof Ainun Nishat, country director of IUCN (Union for Conservation of Nature), said the reservoir should be built according to the original plan so it can generate intended results.
If the size of the water-retention reservoir is reduced, the pumping capacity will have to be increased. Otherwise, the reservoir will overflow and inundate surrounding areas, he warned.
However, increasing the pumping capacity is very costly and running an additional number of pumps will also raise electric consumption, Prof Nishat explained.
On January 19, 2000, the Executive Committee of National Economic Council approved Tk 82.66 crore for the project with a reservoir to be built on 269.78 acres of land. The duration of the project was from June 1998 to 2001.
Following the approval, advertisements were published in newspapers on August 20, 2000, asking people to refrain from construction on die designated land under the project, sources said.
On February 7, 2002, the land ministry cancelled the land acquiring process as it failed to complete the process before the scheduled time as per section 5(1) of the land acquisition law, said a Wasa official.
On January 25, 2006, the Dhaka Wasa requested the land ministry to acquire 116.02 acres of land to implement the second phase of the project, he said adding that the land ministry on February 11,2007 finally decided to acquire 112.68 acres of land for the project.