THE initiative to revise Dhaka鈥檚 detailed area plan, revised only a year ago amid criticism by urban planners and green activists, has once again given birth to concern. Urban planners at a discussion that the Institute for Planning and Development organised on December 4 expressed concern at the recent revised proposals for the detailed area plan that Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha published, noting that the proposals ignore the city鈥檚 liveability, civic amenities and the environment and, rather, prioritise commercial interests of housing traders. The proposals have focused solely on increasing the size and height of buildings, neglecting crucial environmental issues, including protecting floodplains, wetland and agricultural land. The proposals to increase the floor area ratio for building construction will, as urban planners say, further jeopardise Dhaka鈥檚 liveability as they fail to adhere to urban planning principles. The floor area ratio is already very high and a reason green and open space is shrinking in Dhaka, already ranked one of the worst liveable cities in both the Global Liveability Index and the Safe Cities Index for years. A failure to implement DAP 2010, followed by lax enforcement of DAP 2022鈥�2035, is believed to have led Dhaka to its current chaotic state.
Urban development plans here are, in fact, ecologically insensitive and take little consideration of public welfare and liveability. The authorities came up with a number of promising plans, rules and regulations to save Dhaka, but most of them could not be implemented because of incoordination among agencies and associated corruption. Government agencies have carried out development work without any regard for the plan and other rules and regulations while illegal construction and encroachment on public spaces have continued unabated. Dhaka has, therefore, witnessed a messy growth where city dwellers are deprived of healthy living facilities. All the rivers and canals in and around Dhaka are either dead or faced with a slow death while large parts of the flood-flow zones have been encroached on. More than 22,500 acres of wetland, including water bodies, flood-flow zones, low-lying areas and canals, in and around the capital have been filled up since detailed area plan came into effect in 2010, as a recent report of the Bangladesh Institute of Planners says. The report shows that 20.58 per cent of the city land area was wetland and 35.71 per cent green and vacant land in 1995. About 43 per cent land was that time developed, which has now increased to 76.78 per cent and more city land is coming under concrete coverage. The city authorities have also failed to improve the drainage while development projects have destroyed several drainage systems.
Urban planners have, rather, emphasised the need to revise the area plan using sustainable strategies and approaches that prioritise public interest, liveability and environmental preservation. The authorities should, therefore, prioritise public welfare and liveability, not commercial interests of any quarters.
