The Hatirjheel project was completed in 2013 at a cost of BDT 22.5 billion to tackle Dhaka’s waterlogging. Its primary goals were to restore biodiversity, create a water-transport corridor to ease traffic congestion and retain storm runoff from surrounding areas. Project plans also envisaged farming various fish species in the lake to meet demand among city residents, along with public swimming facilities.
Instead, the lake has become a dumping ground for sewage from neighbouring residential areas. Water transport operates in name only.
Hatirjheel remains functional despite the stench of polluted water, while Dhaka’s three other major lakes — in Dhanmondi, Gulshan and Banani — no longer offer any water-transit service. They, too, have become waste basins for surrounding affluent areas. Government interventions have failed even to restore their natural colour.
Urban analysts say decades of raw sewage discharge have destroyed the lakes’ ecosystems. Professor Akter Mahmud, an urban planner and board member of Rajuk, the capital development authority, said the lakes were built with billions in public funds, yet residents in wealthy neighbourhoods continue to abuse them.
“Where are Dhaka’s lakes located? In affluent areas like Dhanmondi, Gulshan and Banani,” Mahmud told Bonik Barta. “In other words, the state never even considered building proper parks or lakes for people in low- and middle-income neighbourhoods.”
He added: “Three or four municipal lakes were built with public money, but their condition is appalling. Lakeside residents have turned them into open sumps for human waste and refuse. There are no fish, birds or aquatic life left. It’s not even possible to sit beside them to catch a breath of fresh air. Yet if these lakes functioned properly and water transport had been developed, each would rival those abroad. The state has failed to deliver that.”
Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara rank among Dhaka’s most affluent neighbourhoods, housing foreign embassies, diplomats, business tycoons and international investors. They also flank one of the capital’s vital water bodies — the Gulshan-Banani Lake. The Department of Environment declared it an Ecologically Critical Area in 2001. More than two decades on, the lake remains severely degraded.
In places, a layer of sludge several inches thick blankets the water. Rotting waste sends a foul odour across much of the lake, which has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies. Residents in waterfront buildings avoid their rooftops and balconies because of the stench, with many keeping doors and windows firmly shut.
Dhanmondi, another of Dhaka’s older high-end neighbourhoods, features a 3.5-kilometre lake. Commercialisation over the past decade has steadily eroded its appeal, while residential developments have routed sewage lines straight into its water. Plastic bottles, polythene and household rubbish are dumped openly — deteriorating the water quality and giving off a sharp stench. Fish stocks and aquatic flora have collapsed, while bird species nesting along the banks are increasingly disturbed by human activities.
Architect Iqbal Habib, who was closely involved in designing both the Dhanmondi and Hatirjheel projects, said WASA bore primary responsibility for the capital’s failure to sustain water transport and biodiversity across its lakes.
“The objectives set out for developing these lakes are not being met in any way. The stench around the water is so foul that people can’t go near them,” he told Bonik Barta.
Habib added: “The root cause, I believe, is WASA’s persistent failure to deliver on its promises and decades of stringing Dhaka’s residents along under the guise of master planning. Their sewerage network covers just 17 percent of the city. Even if that figure is taken at face value, their own data shows the remaining 83 percent of waste ends up in these lakes and canals. So even when Rajuk and the city corporations try, they can’t safeguard the natural environment.”
“Lakeside residents continue to dump waste indiscriminately. Taken together, it’s fair to say that Dhaka’s lakes are no longer clean reservoirs but open cesspools,” Habib said.
Sources allege that WASA’s sewage discharges are crippling the city corporations’ ability to deliver basic municipal services. WASA has reportedly tied its sewerage mains into the city corporations’ storm-water drainage network, preventing rainwater from draining into nearby lakes and canals during monsoon downpours.
“We are essentially helpless. WASA has cross-connected its sewer lines into our storm drains, leaving us struggling to control waterlogging across the city,” Nur Azizur Rahman, chief engineer of Dhaka South City Corporation, told Bonik Barta.
He added: “When a lake or canal chokes on waste and stench, the public abandons it. People stop sitting by the banks. They don’t use the water. They don’t take boats there. That’s precisely how canals and lakes are gradually lost to encroachment. We hope the lakes will be brought back under proper management.”