Execute plan as designed
An audit must be carried out to know how far urban plan, like the Detailed Area Plan of Dhaka city, has been implemented and what has actually happened to such plan so far, said Prof Akter Mahmud, vice-president of Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP), at a discussion in the capital yesterday.
Any urban plan must be implemented for improving the people's quality of life with due importance given to the priorities set in the plan, said Mahmud, who teaches urban and regional planning at Jahangirnagar University.
BIP in association with Nagar Unnyan Sangbadik Forum organised the dialogue on the role of journalism in planning urban development on its premises.
The government decision-makers do not respect the plan meant for the country's urbanisation, which stands in an utter mess today, said Mohammad Fazle Reza Sumon, another vice-president of BIP.
“Even resource allocation for preparing planning documents falls far short of what is required…," he said, adding, "… urban plan is necessary not only for Dhaka city but also for the entire country.”
The authorities concerned like Rajuk [Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha] occasionally invite urban planners only to show their attendance at meetings, he said, adding that the planners never know whether their inputs are incorporated in the final plan.
By now, every planned neighbourhood -- like Gulshan, developed in the 1960s -- in Dhaka has been destroyed in unplanned commercialisation, with the regulator -- Rajuk -- remaining silent, he said.
The planned township like Purbachal projected to have one million population, will actually end up having six times higher because of provisions in the building construction rules, virtually foiling all the planning projection, he said.
BIP General Secretary Adil Mohammed Khan while conducting the discussion said an urban plan is prepared in a certain way but it is randomly altered during implementation to accommodate coterie interests.
Former BIP president Prof Golam Rahman; Amitosh Pal, special correspondent of Bangla daily Samakal; and Munima Sultana, special correspondent of The Financial Express; among others, spoke.
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