Tawfique Ali

The government in the last seven years has failed to issue the work order for the 47km Dhaka Elevated Expressway (DEE) even though its construction has been inaugurated twice.

The Victory Day morning of last year started like any other for the 85-year-old widow of a former Ispahani company director. She woke up, did her usual chores and had breakfast.

The natural Dumni canal that nourished local agriculture and ecology for decades on the city's eastern outskirts is now being filled up to make way for real estate development.

Residents of some parts of Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara in the capital have to bear the misery of dug-up trenches and muddy roads for another half a year thanks to an ongoing road and footpath improvement work.

No one knows when the trashcans on the pavement in front of the Navy headquarters in the capital were stolen, leaving just the metal frames where the bins used to hang.

Illegal and haphazard parking and other unauthorised occupation under almost all the flyovers in the capital are depriving people of the benefit of the elevated structures, said transport experts.

In the absence of modern treatment facilities, a cringe-worthy 80 percent of the capital's sewage goes directly into rivers and water bodies.

Calbayog -- a city in Samar province of the Philippines -- was recognised as the country's cleanest and second most peaceful city. The man behind this achievement was Mel Senen Sarmiento, the city's mayor from 2001 till 2010.

Already grappled with soaring prices of essentials, tenants in the capital are likely to find themselves in more trouble as the authorities are increasing the tax on holdings manifold. Although the building owners are to pay the tax, the tenants fear they will have to bear the brunt in the end. They say the landlords will realise a major part of the revised amount from them.

Rajuk's digital services for land clearance and building construction permit, introduced almost two years ago for some city areas, are hardly getting any response from the service seekers.

A moderate rain for a couple of hours and much of the capital goes under ankle to knee-deep water. Why?

Stern governance and empowered elected local bodies should help alleviate Dhaka city's current messiness and the stigma of poor liveability, said former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit in an interview with The Daily Star.

Blessed with a 110km waterway network of four rivers, Dhaka could have been one of the world's best cities with rich environmental and ecological diversity and great sources of drinking water. The reality, however, is simply the opposite as the rivers are dying a slow death due to years of encroachment and pollution, improper demarcation and inadequate dredging.

Uttaran cooperative housing society, with powerful people as its members, has flattened around 150 acres of hilly land and cut down thousands of trees in Kolatoli of Cox's Bazar town for its housing estate.

Inadequate storm-water drainage system managed by seven different authorities with little coordination among themselves is the reason why Dhaka streets suffer deluge every time there is moderate rain. The authorities do their job haphazardly. They hardly know what the others are doing, say officials concerned.

Although it is the job of the city corporations, the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has embarked on a Tk 90 crore beautification and pavement maintenance work on the capital's Airport Road.

Business of The Raintree Dhaka hotel is going on at a residential building in Banani with a High Court order staying the authorities

Slow tender bidding process has pushed the metro rail construction work nearly a year behind schedule. Of the eight components of the project, the ground work of one was ongoing. Even though prequalification of bidders in the remaining seven components was done, the final contracts have not been signed yet.

Seven years after the deadly chemical fire claiming 124 lives in Nimtoli, parts of densely-populated Old Dhaka still have extremely hazardous stocks of flammable chemicals without any safety measures whatsoever.

It was around 7:30am on a Wednesday. The street towards the Banani intersection from Mohakhali near the capital's Sainik Club was bustling with speedy vehicles. Pedestrians, including office-goers, schoolkids and garment workers, were hurrying along the pavement.