Integration of environmental assessment into slum improvement programs : a case study of infrastructure projects in two slums of Dhaka | |
| Author | Chowdhury, Farhat Jahan |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.UE-02-07 |
| Subject(s) | Slums--Bangladesh--Dhaka Infrastructure (Economics)--Bangladesh--Dhaka |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Slum dwellers live in an extremely unhygienic environment, characterized by limited access to latrines, overflowing latrines, closed or no drainage systems, solid wastes dump, and high population density in poorly built houses. The government, donor organizations, and NGOs have taken many infrastructure improvement projects including drains, footpath, latrine, refuse disposal bin, water supply, flood protection, etc to directly upgrade the unhygienic and unsanitary environment of the slums. Undertaking environmental assessment in planning and implementation phase of slum improvement program could facilitate attaining the overall goal of an infrastructure program. This is particularly important because the slums are over congested and its environment is fragile. In the above background, the overall objective of this study has been to formulate mechanisms for integration of environmental assessment systems into the slum improvement program, which will help to maximize the benefits and ensure sustainability of the intervention and provide healthy living environment to the poor communities. For generating necessary data, a field survey was carried out in two slums of Dhaka city – Bank-Maath and City-Polly - both of which experienced infrastructural development projects: the former under the SHARAR and the later under SIP. The SHARAR project has considered environmental assessment process in designing and locating interventions while the SIP did not consider it. Slum dwellers of both communities have identified drainage and sanitation related seven physical environmental problems (i.e. drainage congestion, water stagnation, overflow of waste odor, unsanitary condition, bad odor, etc.) associated with the newly installed infrastructures such as drainage system, pathway, community toilet, refuse bin, etc. Before the implementation of the infrastructures, those problems existed in both slums severely. After the construction of the infrastructures, the situation has improved considerably in the Bank-Maath slum but in the City-Polly slum the problems still persists and slum residents did not fully benefit from these infrastructures. The reasons identified by slum dwellers are: (i) implementers did not address all problems existing in the slum, (ii) authority did not ask slum residents regarding location and extent of the problem, and (iii) implementing authority did not come to see the performance of the infrastructures after the completion of work, etc. Newly implemented infrastructures have also created some new problems on the environment. For example, waterlogging is a new problem in the City-Polly slum that has been created, because the project did not ensure outlet drain during the construction work. Experts and professionals during the delphi survey emphasized that for maximizing the benefit of the infrastructures, environmental assessment (EA) is a very useful instrument that need to be integrated with the slum improvement program. The reasons for failure of slum improvement program, indicated by the delphi respondents are: lack of participation, non-consideration of environment and monitoring. Considering poor performance of the infrastructures in the City-Polly slum as the results of the filed survey have shown and delphi respondent's opinion in favor of EA, this study has proposed a mechanism for integration of EA into slum improvement program. These mechanisms are based on delphi respondents' opinion, researcher's observation and literature, this study has proposed. Three forms of mechanisms are proposed for integration of EA. These are: (i) institutionalization of EA into slum improvement implementing agencies, (ii) enshrining of the EA requirement in slum improvement program by legislation, and (iii) positioning EA in the project cycle. A two-tier environmental assessment system has been developed for slum improvement program denoted as Programmatic Rapid Environmental Assessment for finalizing the design and location of the infrastructures. |
| Year | 2003 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Urban Environmental and Management (UE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Amin, A. T. M. Nurul |
| Examination Committee(s) | Perera, L. A. S. Ranjith ;Sajor, Edsel E. |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | The Royal Netherlands Government |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2003 |