Anwarul Alam, general secretary of the Gulshan Society, said most residents in Gulshan are against commercialisation of the residential plots and resent the decision to put a new height ceiling on eight-storeys. The decision was made to provide benefits to a handful people along the main roads of the residential areas, he said.

Experts at the Institute of Architects, Bangladesh, said the sewerage, water and gas pipes of the area were originally designed for a population density of 30 persons an acre. But now network is overloaded with more than 300 persons living on each acre.

"If the population density increases further because of construction of eight-storey buildings the whole system will collapse," Alam said.

The Ministry of Housing and Public Works in a recent notification, announced that all plots between Gulshan Shooting Club and Gulshan Circle-2; Banani Kemal Ataturk Avenue and plots between Gulshan-Banani Bridge and Gulshan-Baridhara Bridge can be converted into commercial plots after the owners pay a conversion fee of Tk 8 lakh for each katha. The notification also declared that all owners of commercial plots will be allowed to build up to eight-storey structures.