The government鈥檚 approval in principle of amendments to the detailed area plan, raising the floor area ratio for buildings, risks exacerbating the very crises facing Dhaka that the plan was meant to address. By allowing developers and landowners to construct very tall buildings across most areas under the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, the decision would increase population density in an already overcrowded city and will worsen its chronic civic and environmental problems. Dhaka is already among the least liveable cities in the world, ranking near the bottom in both the Global Liveability Index and the Safe Cities Index. Its population density, a staggering 600 people an acre, is five times the maximum recommended by the United Nations for healthy cities. Yet, instead of prioritising strategies to decentralise and decongest the city and improve basic urban services, the authorities appear to have again yielded to pressure of vested interests, particularly real estate developers, by amending the plan to allow more intensive construction. The floor area ratio increases are significant: from 2 to 4.4 at Khilkhet, 2.8 to 3.4 at Mirpur, 2 to 3.3 at Badda and 2 to 3.5 at Rampura, among other areas. Such sharp increases will inevitably push more people into already strained neighbourhoods, worsen traffic congestion, water stagnation and degrade open and green spaces.
This latest revision comes barely two years after the detailed area plan was officially notified in 2022 and only a year after its previous amendment. Urban planners say that the area plan was revised earlier under the same pressure from commercial quarters that sought to maximise profit at the expense of sustainability and liveability. As urban planners have repeatedly noted, the authorities have failed to implement the core objectives of the detailed area plan such as widening roads, creating playgrounds and parks, protecting floodplains and ensuring better coordination among agencies. Instead, the plan has been revised again and again to accommodate higher population density, without corresponding improvements in civic infrastructure. Although the authorities say that the decision to raise the floor area ratio is a step towards 鈥榤odern and sustainable urban growth,鈥� it appears to be a policy shift that prioritises vertical expansion without addressing horizontal shortage. Dhaka鈥檚 drainage system is woefully inadequate, its transport network overstretched, its open spaces rapidly shrinking and its environmental assets are under severe threat. More than 22,500 acres of wetlands, flood-flow zones and canals have already been filled since 2010 while unplanned development has encroached on almost every remaining public space. Without infrastructure upgrade and strict planning rules enforcement, higher floor area ratio will only compound such failures.
The government should, therefore, not accommodate short-term commercial interests at the expense of long-term urban health. Instead of repeatedly revising the plan to make room for tall buildings, it should focus on implementing the plan as originally conceived, ensuring agency coordination, protecting the environment and prioritising public welfare.
