March 04, 2008

Dhaka, the second dirtiest city in the world

The way Dhaka city is being developed you know this was coming since long time. Every development, every growth is concentrated on this Mega city, which is the capital of Bangladesh.

Forbes Magazine lists Dhaka as the second dirtiest city in the world. The main culprit is lead-poisoned air. Traffic congestion in the capital continues to worsen with vehicles emitting fatal amounts of air pollutants daily, including lead.

The unplanned growth of city, more and more people pouring in from rural areas to the city slams and the narrow streets unable to cope with the traffic of these people have augmented the miseries.

The solution is simple, decentralize from Dhaka. Transfer the Government Secretariats to outskirts of Dhaka including housing compounds. Give importance to other commercial cities like Chitatgong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet etc. Encourages businesses to shift major portions out of Dhaka. Make special zone for Garments industries outside Dhaka and Shift the factories there. But will we able to see these changes in 10-20 years of time? Otherwise the number 1 spot is secure for Dhaka.

Baku in Azerbaijan has clinched the top slot with its life-threatening levels of air pollution emitted from oil drilling.

Here is the complete list of the 25 dirtiest cities of the world:

No. 25: Port Harcourt, Nigeria
No. 24: New Delhi, India
No. 23: Maputo, Mozambique
No. 22: Luanda, Angola
No. 21: Niamey, Niger
No. 20: Nouakchott, Mauritania
No. 19: Conakry, Guinea Republic
No. 18: Lome, Togo
No. 17: Pointe Noire, Congo
No. 16: Bamako, Mali
No. 15: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
No. 14: Moscow, Russia
No. 13: Bangui, Central African Republic
No. 12: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
No. 11: Ndjamena, Chad
No. 10: Brazzaville, Congo
No. 9: Almaty, Kazakhstan
No. 8: Baghdad, Iraq
No. 7: Mumbai, India
No. 6: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
No. 5: Mexico City, Mexico
No. 4: Port au Prince, Haiti
No. 3: Antananarivo, Madagascar
No. 2: Dhaka, Bangladesh
No. 1: Baku, Azerbaija


(Polluted Dhaka: Image copyright Ahron de Leeuw used under creative commons license)

1 comments:

  1. No  doubt, Allover  The Authority of The cites are dirtest men. They only Know How  can earn
    Money  by hook & cook, 

    ReplyDelete