Waterlogging and submergence of the capital city's roads even after a moderate rainfall have long been a common complaint of city-dwellers. Water experts and others concerned have also been advising successive governments time and again to identify and revive the long lost canals and drainage systems to rid the city of the constant problem of waterlogging and protect it from the danger of submersion.  Notably, there were efforts earlier to restore Dhaka's natural drainage networks including the Begunbari and Segunbagicha Khal with a view to reversing the ongoing acts of encroachment and thus reconnecting those to rivers like the Buriganga, Turag and Balu. Mention may also be made of the past long-term drainage master plans sponsored by the JICA and the World Bank to address the shrinking canal network of Dhaka. However, it is not just an issue of the capital city alone. In fact, the entire country faces the problem as the natural canals and rivers that once crisscrossed the nation have been lost to unplanned construction of roads and other physical infrastructures by past governments. Land grabbers are also equally responsible. But projects and master plans undertaken in the past to reverse the trend could never see the light of day thanks to the inaction by the previous governments.  

Against the backdrop, it is a heartening piece of information that the incumbent BNP government has not wasted any time taking steps to implement its election promise of restoring the lost canals and rivers upon assuming office. The Ministry of Water Resources has undertaken a technical assistant project, titled, 'Identification and Classification of Canals of Bangladesh and Preparation of a Geoinformatics Database' worth Tk315.7 million as approved by the Planning Commission (PC) to classify canals and create a geo-informatics (GIS) database for the purpose. The project is to be implemented by the Water Development Board (BWDB). The Agriculture, Water Resources and the Rural Institutions Division of the Planning Commission will be extending the required support for the work.

The said digital database, would, as planned, integrate with the existing database for national river management system. The overall objective, reportedly, is to identify and map the origin, outfall, flow path, basin and sub-basin of canals using the GIS.  In the process, all the canals, some 30,000 of them, would be classified into three categories-large, medium and small. The idea is to assess the canals' capacity for flood control, irrigation and drainage. It is expected that once the exact information about the location of the lost as well as running rivers, derelict and functioning canals is to hand, it would be possible to bring the country's waterways under a comprehensive management framework. Also, the measure, it is believed, would go to help future work of planning, conservation,  irrigation and flood control.

The effort would help restore natural waterways, reduce waterlogging, boost agriculture and protect environment as spearheaded by the new government's commitment to revive the 'voluntary canal excavation programme' introduced by late president Ziaur Rahman. To this end, the government has set a target to excavate and re-excavate 20,000 km of waterways within the present government's tenure. In the first phase, the government has a target to excavate 1,000 km of canal within 180 days. It all sounds good and the incumbent government's promptness in undertaking the river and canal revival project as part of its election pledge is indeed praiseworthy and welcome.  However, as the proverbial pudding's proof is in its eating, it is hoped, the new BNP government would be as good as its word throughout its current term in office.