Say experts
The Detailed Area Plan (Dap) of Dhaka City is biased towards the wealthy people as it proposes unequal urban facilities, speakers at a discussion said yesterday.
It proposes 20 times more residential land for the wealthy than for the low-paid people in the capital, said Mahabubul Bari, adviser to the Rwanda government on transportation.
Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP), Poribesh Bachao Andolon (Poba) and Work for a Better Bangladesh (WBB) Trust jointly organised the discussion at the Jatiya Press Club.
The plan proposes 34 percent land of the city for the 44 lakh high-income people while 0.3 percent for some 45 lakh poor and those under the poverty line.
It implies that population density in posh Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara areas will be 235 people per acre while 6,040 for the poor and slum dwellers, Bari told the discussion.
Moreover, relocation of the squatter settlements has been proposed in the non-productive fringe areas with the wealthy in the centre.
Though a single bus can carry the passengers of 40 private cars, the Dap encourages the latter, he said, by banning non-motorised vehicles.
He also observed that construction of flyovers would not solve traffic congestion in the city.
Md Johurul Hoq, chief town planner for Rajuk, said they are sincerely trying to implement the Dap which will expire in 2015. “Rajuk has proposed making the next plan,” he said.
The finalised Dap was published in official gazette in June last year. But its execution was soon made subject to a ‘final’ review by a seven-member cabinet body, in the face of fierce opposition from the real estate developers including two lawmakers.
Poba Chairman Abu Naser Khan alleged that state-run Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) is more engaged in acquiring the lands of ordinary people to develop different residential plots for the wealthy and those influential.
Rajuk should give up its role as a real estate firm and must oversee development control, said Syed Mahbubul Alam, director of the WBB Trust.
Md Shawkat Ali Khan, vice president of BIP, among others, spoke.
-With The Daily Star input
