Speakers at a dialogue on Wednesday said that administrative and development decentralisation was imperative to ease the population pressure on Dhaka city and make it more liveable.
At the dialogue titled 鈥楥omplexities of Detailed Area Plan: towards sustainable urbanisation鈥� organised by the Centre for Governance Studies at the CIRDAP auditorium in the capital, they also stressed coordination between ministries and other agencies to ensure effective urban development.
CGS president Zillur Rahman, who moderated the event, said, 鈥楩or years we have been promised visions of a smart city, but today DAP has become a new form of urban terror.鈥�
He alleged that industries were being established in residential areas, and schools and colleges were built without proper planning.
鈥楶olicymakers appear to be making fun of the DAP, while citizens continue to suffer,鈥� he said.聽
Bangladesh Supreme Court lawyer Shihab Uddin Khan stressed effective coordination between Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, food ministry, environment ministry and planning commission for proper urban development planning.
In the keynote speech, CGS executive director Parvez Karim Abbasi said that the new DAP, particularly its Floor Area Ratio guidelines, has sparked debate amid the rapid urbanisation pushing Dhaka to become the world鈥檚 fourth most populous city.
Saying that Floor Area Ratio rules determine the highest area on which a permanent structure or building can be built inside a given land area, when the FAR was low, it restricted vertical development, pushing cities to expand horizontally and increasing pressure on roads, utilities and public services.
In contrast, high FAR enabled denser vertical development promoting affordable, and sustainable urban growth, he stated.
He, however, noted that to ensure liveability and affordability, high FAR must be complemented by transit-oriented development, mixed-use planning, and green building practices.
Senior journalist MA Aziz said that increasing the FAR ratio would only worsen Dhaka city鈥檚 condition and stressed the need for decentralisation.
He alleged that the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh, REHAB in short, and the government acted as a wicked nexus and had occupied most of the wetland areas to construct buildings.
But REHAB vice-president (finance) Abdur Razzaque accused the Bashundhara group of companies, which included real estate business also, of illegal filling of wetlands and constructing multi-storeyed buildings there.
鈥業f this continues, a grim future is waiting for the people of Dhaka,鈥� he warned.聽
Former state minister for housing and public works Alamgir Kabir, former chairman of National Board of Revenue Muhammad Abdul Mazid, Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Farzana S Putul, Universal Medical College and Hospital Ltd chairman Priti Chakraborty, and Northumbria University professor Aliar Hossain, among others, spoke at the event.