In January 2020, Dhaka WASA formally transferred 26 canals to the capital’s two city corporations. The handover aimed to restore biodiversity through proper management. Five years later, neither corporation has revived a single canal. Instead, mismanagement has deepened waterlogging and dengue outbreaks — a pattern that, if unchecked, threatens to worsen the city’s flooding during the monsoon.
Before the handover, Dhaka WASA had managed those 26 canals (roughly 80 kilometres), around 385 kilometres of major drains and four pumping stations to combat waterlogging, while the city corporations looked after about 2,211 kilometres of drains. The mayors immediately pledged to demarcate boundaries, evict illegal structures from both banks, re-excavate to expand water capacity, reinforce the banks with vegetation and build walkways and cycle lanes. None of these promises materialised.
Experts note that the canals have merely changed hands and no real work followed. The priority after acquiring ownership was demarcation and restoration. Neither the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) nor the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has fully restored a single canal since. The corporations have meanwhile spent tens of millions of Bangladeshi taka on canal cleaning and special drives.
Documents from the two city bodies show that after the formal transfer of 26 canals, WASA subsequently handed over several more. DSCC’s listed canals are: Jirani, Basabo, Kadamtala, Khilgaon Bagicha, Manda, Kajlapara, Shyampur, Titas, North Kutubkhali, Mridhabari, Matuail, DND and the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway canal. DNCC’s include: Kantasur, Ramchandrapur, Kalyanpur, Rupnagar, Mirpur Diabari, Ibrahimpur, Baunia, Baishteki, Sangbadik Colony, Abdullahpur, Digun, Begunbari, Shahjadpur, Sutibhola, Kasai Bari, Mohakhali, Dumoni, Uttara Diabari, Boalia, Gobindapur and Narail canal.
Urban planners say the prolonged mismanagement of Dhaka’s canals is steadily compounding the city’s waterlogging crisis. Roads now flood after only light rainfall, trapping residents. Repeated heavy downpours over recent days have triggered successive flooding across the capital’s lanes and bylanes. Heavy, intermittent rain since dawn yesterday submerged several neighbourhoods — most acutely Jurain, Postogola, Jatrabari, Demra, Rampura, Malibagh and Khilgaon. Drains, ponds and dead canals in these areas were already brimming after days of continuous rain. Friday morning’s deluge intensified the flooding sharply.
“The whole of Alambag went under water after the dawn rain. People are wading through filthy water,” said Akhtar Hossain, a resident of Juraine’s Alambag area. He noted fewer people ventured out because it was a holiday.
Kamal Sarkar, a Jatrabari resident, said, “Even Jatrabari’s main road is submerged. The side lanes are impossible to walk through.”
Amena Begum of Chankharpul said, “I woke up in the morning and left to go to the bazaar only to find streets and roads everywhere under water.”
The diagnosis offered by planners is stark: encroached and clogged canals and water bodies are the reason the city submerges in even light rain. Without visible progress, they warn, waterlogging will worsen dramatically in the monsoon.
Speaking to Bonik Barta, Dr Adil Mohammed Khan said, “The government always tells a story of development. But the horror inside that story surfaces during rain, flood, fire or any disaster. We have said it again and again: work to restore Dhaka’s livability. That requires strict enforcement of the law against land grabbers and influential groups. Many of these encroachers are also known members of the ruling party. Yet they always escape consequences. So new grabbers are emerging all the time.”
He added, “Many officials across government departments are abettors of land-grabbing, many are corrupt. We have yet to hear any serious censure of them from the government. As a result, the misery of Dhaka’s people barely changes.”
DSCC Chief Executive Officer Md Zahirul Islam told Bonik Barta, “Our work is still confined to cleaning canals. We have not been able to fully restore a single one. We have started work on four canals and will proceed with the others in sequence. I expect the current situation will then improve gradually.”