Mr. Saifuddin Mahmud Katebi explained Chittagong’s development of a greener environment, and his Action Plan for a sanitary landfill site.

1. The City

Chittagong is Bangladesh’s second largest city and its major sea port. Backed by lush green hills, and situated at the mouth of the Karnaphuli River on the Bay of Bengal, the city has a rich natural setting. Rapid economic growth since independence in 1971 has brought both wealth and severe challenges to the city. The rapid growth of its population threatens to overwhelm the urban infrastructure. Industrial growth has brought wealth and employment, but also heavy migration and a rapid increase in the demand for utilities, water and sanitation. Inevitably, slums have grown, largely outside the typical urban infrastructure service system. 

Waste management has posed major problems; the need for more “Greening” has also increased dramatically. 

The city government estimates that the city produces some 2,000 tons of solid waste per day. Waste collection capacities allow for management of 1,200 tons. Thus 800 tons per day are recycled and processed informally, by households and informal scavenger industries. Even managing the 1,200 tons per day required substantial development of new organizational capacities. Some of this was done with what can be called “normal” procedures: buying large garbage trucks and sending them to pick up waste and deliver it to a landfill. But slums and informal neighborhood development often mean small lanes, unreachable by large conventional trucks. The City Corporation responded with an innovative approach, using three wheeled tricycles fitted with large trash bins, which could navigate the narrow lanes to pick up garbage from households or central dustbins. The leaders emphasized the cleanliness the workers would provide and gave them a somewhat honorific title of “Seboks.” This implies the kind of cleanliness a mother provides to her small children, and raises the status of the approximately 1,700 workers who now help keep the city clean. 

The City Corporation also developed a recycling and garbage separation program at the household level, enlisting the help of schools, local NGOs and neighborhood groups. 

Innovatively, garbage separated at the landfill itself can be directed to recycling programs. Organic wastes go either to the production of compost, sold on the open market, or to the creation of “fire wood” used in road repair and building, heating the bitumen for road cover. 

Once backed by lush forests, the city lost many trees in the rapid expansion of housing and industry. The City Corporation instituted a strong tree planting program in 1991, and gardens and parks were created throughout the city. More striking, however, was the tree planting program itself. Schools, NGOs and community groups are mobilized to take part in annual month long tree fairs. In the 14 years 1992-2005, more than 200,000 trees were planted. The month long tree fair in June brings together scores of nurseries, government forestry and parks agencies and green oriented NGOs to exchange information and promote civic interest in providing the green character of the city. The results can be seen in the greenery-lined roads. 

Chittagong's month-long tree fair

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2. The Proposed Action Plan

For the large bulk of solid waste produced by Chittagong’s four million people, there is no proper landfill site. This leads to open dumping all around the city, which is causing environmental pollution. So, to create a cleaner and safer environment, a new sanitary landfill site will be constructed. 

The budget is due to be approved by the Central Government and City Corporation, and special emphasis will be on the private sector’s participation in the establishment of the landfill. 

Key to building a landfill site is garnering the support of residents of the surrounding area. In this case, the 100-acre sanitary landfill will be built on an existing landfill site, and awareness campaigns through newspapers and local motivational networks will inform on how the project will create a cleaner environment for the residents. 

Waste will be compressed and covered daily with a layer of soil, and a concrete base will stop the percolation of leachate. This will be collected in a pond installed with a leachate treatment plant, and the treated water sent to a nearby river. Methane pipes will be installed.

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Chittagong Action Plan Time Frame (1): June 2008 – July 2009

Chittagong Action Plan Time Frame (2): August 2009 - November 2010

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