Meeting at Dhaka WASA

Documents show that the private real estate company submitted the proposal on 6 June. Dhaka WASA subsequently formed a three-member committee on 16 July.

The committee was asked to review various issues, including ownership and the current condition of the land, the private company’s proposal, its advantages and disadvantages, and the interests of WASA and the government.

Dhaka WASA Managing Director Md Aminul Islam told Prothom Alo by phone last Tuesday that the proposal was still at an initial stage. He said that the next steps would be taken while safeguarding Dhaka WASA’s interests and not under any kind of pressure.

Dhaka WASA sources said that on Tuesday, several people, including members of WASA’s Performance Support Committee and its newly appointed chairman, held a meeting on the proposal. The proposal could not be approved because of objections from several participants.

Mohammad Ashfaqul Numan, a representative of the Finance Division on the Performance Committee, was present at the meeting. Sources said he was among those who opposed the proposal. He declined to comment when asked about the matter.

Following the July mass uprising, a Performance Support Committee was formed to run Dhaka WASA because its board had been dissolved. On 2 August, Professor Md Sabbir Mostafa Khan of the Water Resources Engineering Department at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) was appointed the new chairman of Dhaka WASA.

Members are currently being appointed to the Dhaka WASA board. This has also raised questions about whether the Performance Committee is still functional. What RAJUK says

The lease agreement between RAJUK and Dhaka WASA contains various restrictions on changing the use of the land or transferring it. It also states that permission must be obtained from RAJUK.

RAJUK Chairman Md Reazul Islam told Prothom Alo that they were not aware of the matter so far. However, he said he hoped the agency would ensure that the conditions under which the land was allocated to Dhaka WASA were not violated.