Patenga sea beach, Foy's Lake need care

A huge crowd of visitors are left with no other option than to sit idle on the embankment as the shore behind it went under illegal occupation by owners of makeshift shops. PHOTO: Zobaer Hossain Sikder

Having the amusement parks overcrowded and the city lacking in open spaces, people craving for eye-soothing natural beauty mostly crowded at Patenga Sea beach and Foy's Lake -- tourist spots of the bustling city.

With a panoramic view Patenga Sea beach, particularly around one km stretch of the 21kms shore along the Bay of Bengal from Patenga to Faujderhut, had long emerged as a remarkable tourist spot in the country.

The beach that usually attracts over 10,000 visitors daily during the tourism season, had several times larger crowd everyday during the Eid vacation.

But the expectation of visitors got a big blow when they arrived at Patenga beach this time.

Recently mushroom of shops blocked the view of an unusual sight of vast sea that greeted and fascinated the visitors from a long distance.

Over 300 illegal makeshift shops on and along the embankment virtually occupied the whole of Patenga beach.

The shops narrowed down the shore during the Eid vacation to such an extent that the visitors found no room to take a stroll on and are forced to take shelter in them at the full tide.

The shop-owners had recently started lobbying to get lease of the shore owned by Water Development Board (WDB), concerned sources said.

The situation worsened when WDB who earlier failed to evict the shops started thinking of leasing out the seashore for planned development of the shore and earning revenue as well.

The WDB formed a four-member committee to work out terms and conditions for leasing out the shore to the shop owners primarily for one year.

After formation of the committee, more makeshift shops are being built along the shore everyday to take possession.

At the same time due lack of proper maintenance the beach lacks in facilities and lies in a most insecure state.

Riff-rafts are making brisk business when the visitors have to pay high price while incidents of mugging and other crimes immediate after the sunset are reported there very often.

Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) brought about some development of the shore site and was collecting money from the transports arriving there for its further development. But no development was marked in the recent time.

CCC also took initiative to develop a tourist spot on some 150 acres of land at a cost of Tk 650 crore at the shore area under Patenga Bay Resort Project. But the project had fallen flat as it failed to get government approval last year.

However, the century old Foy's Lake, another refreshing sight of natural endowment within the grip of bustling city, presented a bit pleasant picture this year.

With a very poor facility, the lake-cum-amusement park so far remained under-utilised with an average turnout of 700 visitors daily.

One hardly dared to visit the lake even in the late afternoon as a sense of insecurity prevailed there.

However, some development was marked there and nestled in lush green and zigzag hills, the Foy's Lake drew around 8000 visitors everyday during the Eid vacation this time.

The half-kilometre road leading to Foy's Lake from Zakir Hossain Road at Pahartoli has recently been widened and carpeted at a cost of Tk 1 crore.

After Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) took over the charge of the lake-cum-amusement park on July 24, well-laid roads and drains have been developed inside it, sources in BPC said.

Number of "Umbrellas" (sheds) with sufficient sitting arrangements was increased, arrangement for supply of drinking water made and five toilets and bathing spaces were built there. Six more boats have also been procured to add to the entertainment facilities, they said.

"BPC will upgrade the lake-cum amusement park as a tourist spot of international standard," Rafiqul Islam Chowdhury, General Manager of Foy's Lake and also a BPC official said.

"Upgrading of Foy's Lake will be under a master plan to be implemented at a cost of Tk 450 crore in phases," he said.

"Even after the recent development, we now expect an average turnout of 5000 visitors daily during the present tourist season (October to March)," Rafique hoped.