Market bonanza kills off city residential character

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Fazlur Rahman
The mushrooming growth of glitzy shopping malls and supermarkets in the city is killing the residential character of its once-sleepy posh areas and destroying its own business prospect.
There are now 30 big-sized malls and 350 supermarkets in the capital situated in every nook and cranny of the capital, more than the city of 12 million people requires, according to the metropolitan shop owners association.
Combinedly, these markets have more than 100,000 top shops, with super-mall Bashundhara City alone having some 2,400 outlets-- all catering to the city's middle, higher middle class and rich people.
"The number of malls and supermarkets is growing at 20 per cent every year," Mohammad Helaluddin, president of the association told the FE.
"It is totally unnecessary as Dhaka has more shopping malls and markets it needs. Sixty per cent of these markets are not doing business at all. Tens of thousands of shop owners have spent billions to buy space in these markets but it is not giving any dividend."
The association said the market making bonanza began early this decade, as the country experienced its first six per cent economic growth on the back of double digit expansion of exports and remittance.
To cash in on the booming middle class, greedy realtors filled up the avenues and busy streets in posh Gulshan, Dhanmondi and Banani areas with rows of markets and malls, hoping that shoppers will flock with big money.
But in the process, they brought chronic traffic jams, chaos and noises to these neighbourhoods, as the streets are found to be too narrow to provide space for rising number of cars.
"Although the building bonanza is far from over, there are already too many markets chasing fewer number of shoppers. Except during Eid, most of these markets don't make money rest of the year," Helal said.
"Calcutta is one of the busiest metropolitan cities in the world with population size bigger than Dhaka. But you will not find more than 10 supermarkets there," he added.
Officials of Rajuk -- the city development authority --- said small neighbourhoods with fewer roads are the worst victims of the mall boom.
The city's Bailey Road, Siddheswari, Wari and Eskaton have already lost their charms because of high frequency of shopping arcades and super-markets.
"And there are more coming up in Uttara, Gulshan, Baridhara and Dhanmondi. Realtors know that once you build a market, its shops will be snapped up by buyers within days," said an official of Bashundhara City.
The country's lone super mall sold all its 2,400 shops when it opened to public in 2004. But the official said more than 400 shops could not start operation due to lack of shoppers.
"Still there is no end to the market boom. There is so much liquid money floating around that some people think that purchase of shopping space is a very good investment for the future," he said.
The shop owners association said a new trend has emerged in which the lower part of a multistoried buildings are turned into super markets, further killing off the last vestige of residential character in posh neighbourhoods.
Even the basements which should have been used for parking lot in multi-storied buildings have not been spared.
Greedy developers are breaching city construction laws to transform basements into shops, business centers, schools and small markets, forcing thousands of cars to park on the streets and alleyways.
Urban planning expert Dr Ishrat Islam said the commercialisation of residential areas could be acceptable up to a certain level.
"A residential area can have commercial facilities as long as those are exclusively required for them. But in Dhaka, that cannot be seen," Professor Ishrat of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology said.
"Excessive number of malls and supermarkets are killing the nature and quietness of a residential area, which in the past offered the very privacy and tranquility the residents had long sought after," she told the FE.
She said the problem has been aggravated by unplanned and haphazard construction of the malls and transforming the basements into commercial centers, worsening the already unbearable traffic congestion.
"Alone in Dhanmondi, there is 26 shopping malls. They are more than the area requires, which are creating pressure on the once exclusively residential zone."
Rajuk officials said they are aware that the number of markets is increasing rapidly, but they cannot do anything if the building is constructed following construction codes approved by the city development authorities.
"We give approval when we become convinced that the proposed design will cover the ground earmarked and it is done according to laws and regulations," said a top Rajuk official preferring anonymity.
Quazi Faruque, general secretary of Consumers Association of Bangladesh, said, "Building shops in the basements is an illegal practice as the building owners are not complying with the laws."
He said that Rajuk should not stop just after approving a design. "They should have a surveillance wing which will oversee whether a building has been built in line with the design and isn't being used as it has been approved for."
The Rajuk official said that the basements rented out or sold for commercial usage are an illegal act and this has been done in violation of approved building design.
"It's true that many do not stick to their building designs," he said adding that the city development authorities have already directed the building owners to clear their basements.
"Rajuk would soon initiate a drive against this unscrupulous practice," he added.