Hill Cutting & Environmental Consequence In Chittagong City, Bangladesh

Hills are the symbols of religion, history and tradition of Chittagong city and considered as main indicator of beauty of the city. They are the most important components of natural resources of the city and the great source of green space. This greenspace, when exists, usually occupied by hills, which apart from aesthetic value increasingly considered to play a vital rule in the protection of the urban environment. A tentative survey carried out in Chittagong City showed that 18.34 km2 hills were cut constituting 57.76% out of 32.37 km2 between 1976 and 2010. Higher land price, population increase, absence of policy hill management, Soil for brick field are the main causes of hill cutting. Environmental consequences of hill cutting are mainly land slide, soil erosion, Flush Flooding, Siltation in rivers and canals, Imbalance in ecosystem. Strengthen the institutional framework and laws for management and control of destructive activities on hills, Enhance awareness among concern bodies, Harmonization of different organization, development of city to the south bank of the Karnaphuli River and use of dredging riverbed silts for development activities would be the probable solutions.