Canals of Dhaka North will be opened for water routes: Mayor

Mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation Md Atiqul Islam has said canals of the Dhaka North will be opened for water routes to reduce traffic congestion in the city and to protect the environment.

"A waterway will be opened from the Rupnagar canal in Mirpur to the Turag River. There are a total of 11 bridges in the Rupnagar canal; they will be arranged for navigation by constructing arch bridges. Nature-based solutions should be done to save this city. By opening the waterway, it will be possible to prevent environmental pollution as well as traffic congestion," said the mayor while addressing as chief guest at a panel discussion organised by the Climate Parliament Bangladesh on Sunday.

Dhaka North Mayor said, "Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara are as elite and expensive as Manhattan. But it is very sad that despite spending crores of Taka to build houses in these areas, Suage's black water connection has been given to our surface drains. Illegal sewage connection in elite areas is unfortunate. Suage did not spend a small amount of money on the treatment plant."

"For the first time in the history of Bangladesh, we are going to set up a 42.5 megawatt Waste to Energy Incineration Plant. We are going to give 3,000 tons of waste every day to generate 42.5 megawatts of energy daily. The work has already started," he said.

Under the segment of Environment and Climate Change, Shakti Foundation led the session on "Harmony with Nature: Balancing Development and Ecosystem Management". The discussions centred on achieving a just equilibrium among the economic, social, and environmental needs of present and future generations. Special focus was given to clean air in Dhaka to improve the quality of living and restore the balance with nature.

Professor James J. Schauer, PhD, PE, MBA, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Science Envoy, US Department of State, participated as the keynote speaker.

Other panellists included Amy Cass, Economic Officer, US Embassy; S.M. Munjurul Hannan Khan, Phd, Executive Director, Nature Conservation Management; Dr. Daniel Novak, First Secretary, Embassy of Sweden; Dr. Md. Mahbubur Rahman, Project Coordinator, WASH, Health System and Population Studies Division, icddr,b; Catalina Ochoa, Senior Urban Transport Specialist, World Bank; and Advocate Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Chief Executive, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association.

The panel was moderated by Deputy Executive Director of Shakti Foundation Imran Ahmed. "As Bangladesh has developed, the challenges have also shifted. Climate change is at the forefront of these challenges. The time for intervention is now," he said.

The three-day conference was jointly hosted by the Climate Parliament Bangladesh, the Earth Society, and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF). Among the attendees were members of parliament from India, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Maldives, foreign ambassadors and representatives, prominent policymakers, practitioners, businesses and civil society.