Dhaka is becoming uninhabitable
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Harunur Rashid
TWO master plans for Dhaka city, prepared at two different periods, existed in paper only. Different stakeholders ranging from the government's utility agencies to private developers felt no compulsion to adhere to any master plan, as there was no enforcement mechanism. The master plans were flouted because the body, that made those -- namely the erstwhile Dhaka Improvement Trust (DIT) or its successors, the Rajdhani Unnanyan Katripakha (RAJUK) -- failed to enforce them or made no demand on them to adhere to it.
However, the master plans prepared at different times also lacked functional details like rules and regulations for mandatory adherence. For an improvement in the situation a detailed plan, to cover all areas of the city, is necessary. Operationalisation of the detailed plan will be needed in the next phase. RAJUK's main responsibility should be to make the detailed area plans available at the soonest to start their implementation with the same urgency. It should be adequately empowered and made resourceful to attain the objectives.
As the population of this capital city continues to swell due to ever-growing pressure of internal migration in a situation where effective administrative decentralisation and development devolution remain cries in the wilderness, Dhaka is becoming uninhabitable. Housing accommodation, utility services, land space, infrastructural support facilities in areas of transportation, communications, power etc., and minimum civic amenities, are utterly failing to meet the needs of the time. Without effective actions to remedy the situation through execution of a master plan for all-round development and expansion of this capital city sooner than later, nobody know what the fate of its bulging population will be in next five to ten years' time. And the authorities concerned do also need to take proper actions to help stop the internal migration of population to Dhaka without brooking any further delay.
TWO master plans for Dhaka city, prepared at two different periods, existed in paper only. Different stakeholders ranging from the government's utility agencies to private developers felt no compulsion to adhere to any master plan, as there was no enforcement mechanism. The master plans were flouted because the body, that made those -- namely the erstwhile Dhaka Improvement Trust (DIT) or its successors, the Rajdhani Unnanyan Katripakha (RAJUK) -- failed to enforce them or made no demand on them to adhere to it.
However, the master plans prepared at different times also lacked functional details like rules and regulations for mandatory adherence. For an improvement in the situation a detailed plan, to cover all areas of the city, is necessary. Operationalisation of the detailed plan will be needed in the next phase. RAJUK's main responsibility should be to make the detailed area plans available at the soonest to start their implementation with the same urgency. It should be adequately empowered and made resourceful to attain the objectives.
As the population of this capital city continues to swell due to ever-growing pressure of internal migration in a situation where effective administrative decentralisation and development devolution remain cries in the wilderness, Dhaka is becoming uninhabitable. Housing accommodation, utility services, land space, infrastructural support facilities in areas of transportation, communications, power etc., and minimum civic amenities, are utterly failing to meet the needs of the time. Without effective actions to remedy the situation through execution of a master plan for all-round development and expansion of this capital city sooner than later, nobody know what the fate of its bulging population will be in next five to ten years' time. And the authorities concerned do also need to take proper actions to help stop the internal migration of population to Dhaka without brooking any further delay.