NEARLY six months have passed since the Bangladesh Tree Protection Movement began a sit-in inside the partially destroyed Panthakunja Park, one of the capital鈥檚 last parks, calling for a halt to the construction of a section of the Dhaka elevated expressway from the Film Development Corporation to the Plassey crossing. Protesters say that the construction of the elevated expressway, initiated by the Awami League government in 2011 with an aim to ease traffic congestion, has already destroyed more than 2,000 trees in the area and the park has remained inaccessible to the public for more than seven years. In a letter to the chief adviser on May 5, the protesters asked the government to set up an independent investigation to investigate the alleged violations of laws, mismanagement, environmental destruction, public suffering and corruption linked to the project. The activists allege that the project鈥檚 environmental clearance expired in December 2023 and has not been renewed. More important, no environmental clearance was secured for the portion of the construction at Hatirjheel and Panthakunja.
For a city that has per capita open space less than one-ninth of what the World Health Organisation recommends, the government鈥檚 silence about restoring public parks is alarming. The government鈥檚 silence about restoring Panthakunja Park is also shocking given that the adviser for environment, forest and climate change earlier moved the High Court to protect the park when a waste transfer station was built inside the park. The adviser, globally known for her history of environmental activism, sadly avoids taking any responsibility as she insists that the project agreement with two foreign investors was neither planned nor signed by the interim government and they, rather, inherited the problem. In a non-committal response, the adviser has hoped that the agencies concerned would resolve the matter considering the demands of the protesters. Meanwhile, the project officials acknowledge the violations of a number of environmental regulations but insist that the activists鈥� concerns are in conflict with the government鈥檚 development priority. To implement the elevated expressway project, the deposed Awami League government formed a company under a public-private partnership scheme involving Italian, Thai and Chinese firms, and the cancellation, as project officials fear, would have legal and financial consequences. The government needs to understand that environmental harm is as expensive as the monetary and legal repercussions.
The government should, therefore, consider the demand for an independent commission to investigation the alleged violations of laws, mismanagement, environmental destruction, public sufferings and corruption linked to the Dhaka Elevated Expressway Project as well as other similar projects of environmental significance. The government should take early steps to review the project agreement and restore the Panthakunja Park.