Making Chattogram livable: Balancing environmental and developmental needs

Chattogram, known as the country's commercial capital and one of the most climate vulnerable cities in Bangladesh, has long been facing many environmental challenges due to unplanned urbanisation and hill cutting to accommodate an increasing population.

The city has also been plagued by air, noise, and water pollution due to lack of awareness and proper monitoring by the authorities. According to recent reports by the Department of Environment (DoE), Chattogram is the second most polluted and noisy city in the country. The air quality of the city sometimes gets worse than that of Dhaka, one of the top polluted cities in the world. The balance between development and nature has often tipped in favour of development, harming the environment and people.

Experts say that with sustainable development planning and collaborative efforts, it is possible to create a livable city by conserving hills and nature while meeting the needs of its residents.

Hills are a unique and vital part of Chattogram's landscape. They are not only beautiful but also serve critical environmental functions. Hills help maintain a balance in the ecosystem by storing rainwater, reducing the risk of floods, and protecting the area from soil erosion. Moreover, the trees and greenery on these hills help clean the air, absorb carbon dioxide, and provide a habitat for wildlife.

However, over the years, illegal hill-cutting has become a major problem in Chattogram. Not only influential political people but also government agencies cut down hills to make space for housing, commercial buildings, and roads. In many cases, this has been done without proper planning or permission from the authorities.

In a recent incident, the Chattogram Medical College Hospital authority has been found guilty of cutting a hill without obtaining permission from the Department of Environment (DoE) for constructing a burn unit. Earlier, Chattogram Development Authority was found guilty of cutting 16 hills to construct a 6-km link road and Chattogram City Corporation was found responsible for developing a residential area by cutting hills.

A study has revealed that in 2000, the area of hill cutting in Chattogram was 679 hectares. By 2012, this had increased to 1,295 hectares. This data was obtained from the analysis of Google Earth images in a study titled "Hill Cutting in and Around Chittagong City."

Dr Iqbal Sarwar, Professor at the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences in the University of Chittagong, said, "To make the city livable we must stop hill cutting, filling up water-bodies, felling trees, extracting groundwater and polluting water by dumping sewage in the canals and rivers.

Experts associated with the study believe that, given the current rate of hill cutting, the hill-cutting area in Chattogram has now expanded to 2,000 hectares. This destruction of hills not only damages the environment but also increases the risk of landslides, which have claimed many lives during heavy rains.

However, no further research has been conducted since 2012, leaving the exact figures of hill-cutting areas unknown. According to DoE, 90 cases related to hill cutting in the Chattogram metropolitan area were filed between 2003 and 2023, spanning 20 years. In 2024, only 4 cases were filed.

Meanwhile, in the Chattogram district, over the past year (June 2023–June 2024), 12 cases were filed in the Environmental Court regarding hill cutting, along with 21 enforcement cases, resulting in fines amounting to Tk4.6 lakh.

Dr Iqbal Sarwar, Professor at the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences in the University of Chittagong, said, "To make the city livable we must stop hill cutting, filling up water-bodies, felling trees, extracting groundwater and polluting water by dumping sewage in the canals and rivers."

"We will have to conserve the hills and water-bodies still remaining, increase green sheds by planting trees in the hills, develop sewage system, revive the canals to get rid of waterlogging and allocate some open spaces and implement the law to stop the use of Single Use Plastic (SUP). For doing all these we must develop awareness among the citizens first and then the government should come up with comprehensive planning", Dr. Sarwar recommended.      

Engineer Subhash Barua, vice president of Forum for Planned Chattogram, said that every year over 1 lakh people are migrating to Chattogram which is putting tremendous pressure on the city's environment and geography. "The city which has a capacity of taking a load of maximum 5 Million people is now hosting over 7 Million people. To accommodate the increasing number of people we need to develop the city in a planned way. Unfortunately we do not have an institution to do the planning", he added.

He said, "While preparing a master plan for the city in 1995, it was recommended to rebuild the Chattogram Development Authority as the Chattogram Planning and Development. It was also recommended to recruit experts like city planners, architects, geographers, environment specialists, traffic engineers to turn it into a planning authority. But in the last 30 years the recommendations have not been implemented."

"It is still possible to develop the city in a planned way and make the city livable by balancing the needs of increasing population and nature and conserving hills. For this we need political will"

Monira Pervin Ruba, Chattogram Divisional coordinator of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) emphasized the need for neutralising the political influence to stop hill-cutting and filling up water-bodies. She said, "In most cases, influential political people get involved in hill-cutting and filling up ponds in the city. Therefore, it is very critical to neutralise the political influence."

Mizanur Rahman Yousuf. Sketch: TBS

She also recommended developing awareness among the citizens for controlling environmental pollution and conserving nature to make the city livable.

Creating a livable city requires striking a delicate balance between development and environmental conservation. In a city like Chattogram, protecting hills, forests, and water bodies must be a top priority. This does not mean stopping development entirely, but rather planning it in a way that respects nature and ensures long-term sustainability.