ZIA: poorly managed

By Aminur Rahim, New DOHS, Mohakhali, Dhaka
27 April 2006, 18:00 PM
I am writing to bring to your attention the miserable maintenance standards of a public facility that has such international usage in our country. It is appalling that compared to other international airports around the world, Zia International Airport is so greatly below standards. Toilets are filthy, smelly, and ill maintained. Toilet flushes do not work, water taps do not close properly which results in thousands of gallons of water being wasted every day. Toilet commodes are broken and extremely unhygienic to use. Despite so many cleaners who are employed by the Civil Aviation of Bangladesh being on duty, these filthy airport toilets are never properly cleaned. There are no water fountains in the airport terminals for drinking water. Is this the example we should set for people visiting Bangladesh from other countries?

Moreover, most Bangladeshi people have no civic sense whatsoever. They will spit their paan right into the washbasin and will not even have the courtesy to wash the basin after use, making it impossible for other people to use it. They also throw their cigarette butts into the sink. They will not flush the toilet after usage, making the toilet area extremely unbearable. And they do not have the courtesy to close the water taps properly before leaving the toilet. I have witnessed water taps running continuously with nobody using the water. As a result, so much of the already limited supply of water is getting wasted. Toilet flushes are also often not turned OFF after use causing the toilets to flood and huge amount of water being wasted. Most Bangladeshi people also have a bad habit of littering and dumping rubbish anywhere, which is very rare in other parts of the world.

I would like to suggest replacing these water taps with automated systems where water will start and stop automatically. Toilet flushes should also be automated. This would be a big saving on our already limited supply of water.

Airport toilets must be cleaned frequently, inspected and properly maintained to maintain our international image. So much is already being spent on the beautification of the external aspects of the airport; surely some funds can be diverted for improvement of the internal facilities as well.