This photo speaks of the conditions of the river Buriganga at Wais Ghat near Ahsan Manzil in Old Dhaka. Photo: Anisur Rahman

For over an hour, hundreds of vehicles jammed the road. Dust particles blew all around and the smell of exhaust fumes permeated the air. An ambulance with a critically ill patient blew its siren to pass through but failed. A car attempting to move a little hit a rickshaw with a female passenger. The woman fell headlong, banging her head at the edge of a pot hole. Blood oozed out as she moaned in pain. People screamed, abusing the car driver and a fist fight ensued. Welcome to the city of Dhaka, the world's worst city to live in after war-torn Damascus.  

Bangladesh's capital has a core area of 325 sq km with a density of over 45,000 people per sq km. The larger metropolitan area comprises around 2,161,17 sq km. Unplanned construction, land grabbing, waste dumping, waterlogging, traffic congestion, air and noise pollution and fast rising population has led to a crisis situation. In 2004, road and infrastructure damage cost around Tk. 7 to 8 billion annually.  

Road comprises only 7 percent of the city instead of the 16 percent minimally required. In Paris and Chicago, the proportion is 25 percent and 40 percent, respectively (Michael Hollen).  

Dhaka lacks planned network with adequate feeder roads to main roads and highways. With 650 major intersections and 60 main traffic lights, some often broken, it can take over an hour to cover 1 km. Traffic congestion delays are estimated to cost US$ 3.8 billion annually. Inadequate transportation to the suburbs leaves no option but to crowd into the city, cooped up in high rises or slums.  

A 2009 World Bank survey found 60 separate bus companies, each with their own routes and schedules.  Links to political parties or powerful trade unions make it almost impossible to regularise them. Annually, over 37,000 additional vehicles ply the roads. A World Bank report found that 50 percent of the bus drivers and less than half of the CNG drivers have proper driving license. Moreover, the footpaths are occupied by temporary shops, forcing pedestrians to walk on crammed roads leading to accidents.        

Dhaka's population increase by rural migration is 4.4 percent annually, the highest in the world. This has created unprecedented challenges for weak city authorities. Illegal infrastructure and blocked water courses abound. Residential areas are used for non-residential purposes, and high rise buildings, too closely built, are results of uncontrolled market forces. 62 percent of residential/commercial areas have 25 percent planned and 37 percent unplanned infrastructure. Estate developers and powerful mastans have destroyed 80 percent of the capital's open spaces; water retention ponds and wetlands flood flow areas. The water table has gone down below 300 feet due to overuse. This can lead to subsidence.    

In 1987, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) identified three major khal systems in greater Dhaka: a) Degun-Ibrahimpur-Kalyanpur khal system draining into the Buriganga and the Turag river; b) Gulshan-Banani-Begunbari-Dhanmondi khal system, draining into the Balu river and; c) Dholai-Girani-Segunbagicha khal system draining into Buriganga and Balu rivers. But in the last 25 years, unplanned filling up of water bodies and illegal construction work have caused many khals to disappear and have clogged up existing ones. They were storm sewers; water retention areas; surface water bodies to check flood flows and allow water to percolate into the ground. 

The Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) estimated that in September 2010, waterlogging caused a loss of Tk. 632 billion for the garment industry and flooding, leading to a loss of Tk. 12.8 billion (Khan 2010). Out of the 43 canals, 17 have completely disappeared and 26 are in critical condition.   

Stagnant water breeds water-borne diseases like typhoid, diarrhoea, dengue and hepatitis. Millions are victims every year. 

From 2010 to 2013, land developers almost destroyed the main section of the Turag River by constructing on over 87 acres of the river bank. In the flood flow zone along Balu River, illegal encroachment turned 548 acres into housing plots in just four years. JICA estimates that approximately 683 acres of Mohammadpur water retention zones have been filled up. Vast river beds surrounding the capital have been illegally acquired, thereby destroying the drainage system and access to safe drinking water. Currently, the rivers Buriganga, Sitalakhya, Turag and Balu receive 2 million cubic metres of waste water every day from over 7,000 industrial units. The Buriganga, containing a high level of cadmium, chromium, mercury and solid waste is considered a dead river.            

Pollution of all kinds is rampant: lead in dust and paint, pollution from leather and textile dyeing, industrial emissions, suspended particulates and excessive carbon monoxide from vehicles. Suspended dust from construction and factories are major sources of sulphur-dioxide, lead, mercury, manganese and other organic compounds. Ground level ozone and nitrogen oxide add to health hazards. . 

Dry season air concentration of lead is 463 monograms, higher even than the 383 monograms in Mumbai, and causes respiratory diseases like asthma, apart from high blood pressure, heart diseases and even cancer.   

The World Health Organisation (WHO) ranks Dhaka as the fourth worst city in the world for air quality. An estimated 15,000 premature deaths as well as around 5 million pulmonary, respiratory and neurological illnesses were attributed to poor air quality as early as 1999 (UNEP). 

Dearth of open spaces and playgrounds impacts negatively on the quality of life and social ecology. The feeling of community disappears as new people and offices occupy high rise buildings in areas where everyone had their own homes and lived in social harmony. This loss of community bonds brings in the risk of insecurity, crimes, theft, fear and violence.  

By 2031, World Bank estimates that the population of Dhaka could exceed 25 million, while that of greater Dhaka could surpass 40 million. This has to be managed as has been done in Tokyo and Seoul. The government has taken up some projects for sustainable water and transport, but sporadic activities will not be enough.     

Saving Dhaka will be hard. It poses difficult and expensive political choices and requires years of political commitment and good governance. It will also disrupt the lives of millions, and so citizens' participation must be vigorously canvassed to achieve a better quality of life for all.     

Funding from multiple donors and IFIs has to be deployed with transparency and monitoring by external agencies. The government will need experts from abroad and home. One large donor or several donors may take up specific sectors, formulating plans in collaboration with other sectors to avoid replication and wastage.

Dhaka needs to be decentralised, firstly by constructing efficient transportation such as metro-rails, over-bridges and roads for quick connectivity with the city. Affordable townships for middle, lower middle and lower classes must be built outside greater Dhaka to house those currently living on illegal land and buildings, and for rural newcomers. At least 60 percent of the unplanned constructions and buildings on wetlands, river banks and other open spaces have to be demolished, irrespective of partisanship or powerful political lobby. 

In addition, rivers and lakes must be cleared and restored. Polluting industries must upgrade their technology and move outside greater Dhaka or to other divisions, thereby enabling other areas to develop. New and existing commercial centres must be helped to grow outside the city and compete to reduce population pressure on Dhaka, for instance by relocating RMG factories, SMEs, private universities and essential government and medical services to other districts. 

The situation is already desperate. Only when the government and all parties are totally committed to engage in expert planning and strong action will Dhaka have some chance of a sustainable future. 

The writer is former High Commissioner of the Maldives, former dean of a private university and Head of Education and Human Resource Development Initiative, Commonwealth Secretariat, London, UK.