Sylhet city is sinking under the weight of its own ‘unplanned’ urban development

The city bordering India’s Meghalaya is always at risk of flash floods during monsoon rains with the onrush of water from the upstream

Sylhet city is grappling with severe urban waterlogging despite over Tk 10 billion spent on flood-control measures in the last 15 years.

The northeastern metropolis, which is vulnerable to flash floods due to its proximity to India's Meghalaya, quickly becomes waterlogged after just a few hours of rain.

Experts blame the persistent flooding on “unplanned” urban development - a claim the city corporation is not ready to accept.

The city bordering India’s Meghalaya is always at risk of flash floods during monsoon with the onrush of water from the upstream. Most of the time, hundreds of thousands of people get marooned when the streets are submerged.

The situation was particularly dire on Sunday when as many as 100 neighbourhoods were submerged on Sunday after several hours of rainfall. The Bangladesh Meteorological Department recorded 226.6 millimetres of rain in a 24-hour count at that time. Most of the city went under water within just six hours after 151 millimetres of rain on Jun 14, 2023.

The worst flooding in the century for the Sylhet region occurred in May 2022, exacerbated by heavy rains and the onrush of water from upstream Meghalaya, sparking public outrage over the "unplanned" development causing the floods time and again.

In response to the waterlogging crisis, Sylhet City Corporation said Tk 10.78 billion have been spent on various projects aimed at mitigating the issue.

However, Jahir bin Alam, an urban planning expert and professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, criticises the measures taken, such as the construction of box culverts, saying these are ineffective solutions.

He said, “We have asked not to construct box culverts; I presented the information to everyone before the local government minister.”

Jahir Alam remains perplexed about the reasoning behind these decisions and questions whom they are intended to benefit.

Faruk Mahmud Chowdhury, president of the Sylhet chapter of Sushashonoer Jonno Nagorik, highlighted the need for urban planners in the development of new plans for Sylhet city, which has expanded in an unplanned manner.

Abdul Karim Chowdhury Kim, a member of Dharitri Rokkhay Amra and general secretary of Poribesh Bachao Andolan’s Sylhet unit, suspects the projects were primarily undertaken to misappropriate funds.

"If not," he questioned, "then why does the city go under water even after the implementation of so many projects?"

Noor Azizur Rahman, chief engineer of the city corporation, countered these claims by explaining that the water could not recede because the Surma River, which splits the city into two parts, was flowing above the danger level.

He claimed that the development work was aligned with a 2011 masterplan and mentioned ongoing communication with the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, and Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority.

He emphasised the importance of raising awareness to keep the drainage system clean and suggested measures such as dredging the river and building a dam.

Dredging of the river was already under way, but Sylhet Water Development Board’s Executive Engineer Dipak Ranjan Das said the work was not proceeding as planned due to obstructions caused by polythene garbage and medical waste in the riverbed.

[Writing in English by Osham-ul-Sufian Talukder]