Bangladesh is one of the most land-scarce countries in the world. Though the National Land Utilisation Policy has laid thrust on family-based land ceiling for rural housing and rural model house building, there is virtually no land-use plan for the rural areas that comprise about 85 per cent of the total land area.
The present facilities in respect of physical infrastructure, housing, water supply, sanitation, etc., are very inadequate in rural areas. A study suggests that housing shortage in the country is estimated to be 3.1 million units, out of which 2.15 million units are in the rural areas. In fact, Bangladesh is losing one per cent of its agricultural land every year due to various reasons including population boom.
Traditionally, rural people are used to living in a 'bari', a homestead which normally includes houses to live in, a yard, backyard for women to use. It is usually dominated by patriarchal system. When the sons of the family reach adulthood, they get married and build few small rooms adjacent to the rooms occupied by the parents. Over time, the entire household area gets highly congested.
Even though space availability for horizontal expansion is limited, people are forced to go for it considering the high cost associated with vertical expansion. On the contrary, it is observed that people in urban areas usually expand their house vertically because the cost of vertical expansion is cheaper compared to the cost of land required for horizontal expansion.
In Bangladesh, unplanned housing is a major problem for the people living in rural areas. Although the government has implemented a few sporadic rural housing projects namely cluster and ideal village projects etc., in the rural areas; those are very meagre compared to the needs of the vast majority of rural people. On the other hand, the Grameen Bank and few other non-government organisations (NGOs) are providing loans for rural house building that has opened a new horizon in the field of rural housing of Bangladesh.
Nevertheless, such organisations are only able to serve a limited number of the rural population. Formulation of a proper institutional and legal framework for actively participating in rural housing, which was included in the National Housing Policy, is still not being implemented.
In such a backdrop, the government has recently approved a compact township project for rural people of seven divisions involving Tk 4.24 billion. It is a new concept of compact housing project, which will include residential facilities alongside agriculture and forestation.
In fact, the idea had originated from the concept of cluster villages, which provides urban facilities to villagers and save agricultural land. Experts say, the project should be implemented in participatory process in consultation with the local people. The poor and the low-income group are expected to hail such initiative, while the richer section might stand against it.
The government believes such cooperatives based township project branded as 'Palli Janapad' will save arable land, ensure food security as well as improve the living standards of rural people. Initially, four-story buildings will be constructed in seven villages of the seven divisions accommodating some 272 families in each village. The project has been undertaken on a pilot basis and based on its successes, it might be extended in future. The project sites will be selected prioritising on the wage-earners' remittance prone areas.
Under the project, there will be flats in four categories for the beneficiaries. A-type flats would be sized of 915 square feet while B-type flats of 710 square feet, C-type flats of 460 square feet and D-type flats of 365 square feet with each square feet areas having a price of Tk 1603. Of the total project cost, the government is likely to provide 70 per cent, while the remaining 30 per cent will come from the beneficiaries. The flat owners will repay the loan to the government in 15 years at a flat rate of 5.0 per cent interest.
The value per square feet has been set at Tk 1,603 for each flat, which will also have dining, kitchen and bathroom facilities. There will be some common facilities free of cost as well. The model villages will have shops, dairy or poultry farms, solar panels, biogas, ATM booths, mobile banking, and playgrounds. Apart from these, Tk 100 million seed money will be given to each village for training the villagers in order to create self-employment opportunities. The government will bear Tk 3.63 billion of the Palli Janapad project cost while the beneficiaries will contribute Tk 0.61 billion. The project is expected to complete by June, 2017. Centre for Irrigation and Water Management (CIWM) and Rural Development Academy (RDA) will jointly implement the project under the Rural Development and Cooperatives Division.
The main project activities include construction of seven four-storey buildings, construction of another three-storey seven buildings for animal husbandry and marketing of agricultural produces, setting up solar panels, ensuring safe water supply, rain water reservation tank construction as well as lake, construction of biogas plant, producing high-quality organic fertiliser and its marketing, operating various income generating training for the beneficiaries and operating RDA credit operations for entrepreneurship development.
The land at the villages will still be in possession of the owners but will be cultivated as cooperatives through organic farming. Ferro-cement and sandwich panels would be used for constructing the proposed buildings, which would save 37 per cent of the cost of traditional building construction.
Each of the model villages is expected to save about 13.05 acres of land needed for traditional housing. Besides, 16.26 acres of agricultural land will be saved, as the families will be provided with civic facilities through a single approach road.
The fact remains that when the number of family members rises, people need to expand their houses. Since space is not available, they expand their houses horizontally in rural areas on agricultural land. In such a way, cultivable land is gradually being decreased. Numerous socio-economic problems are being created as a consequence.
High growth rate of population in Bangladesh has created enormous pressure on land. In addition to that, land use patterns are radically changing and adversely impacting country's agricultural land, forest, water bodies and wildlife habitat. Making new homes on cultivable land is limiting the use of land for farm production.
In the circumstances, the government's recent decision to build compact township project for the rural people in phases is a welcome gesture. This will definitely go a long way to save shrinking agricultural land and solve their acute housing problem.
szkhan@dhaka.net
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