Cover Story

The Future of Dhaka

Syed Zain Al-Mahmood
Photos: Zahedul I Khan

When a devastating fire broke out in the city's Nimtoli area on June 3, it took the fire service more than an hour to reach the inferno – although the fire station was less than a kilometre away. By the time the fire trucks had negotiated the narrow roads and hairpin turns, dozens of people lay dead.

Without a comprehensive policy for urbanisation and service delivery, Dhaka has not been able to keep up with the needs of its exploding population.

On June 6, millions of Dhaka city dwellers were left staring in dismay at the deluge as heavy rain caused severe waterlogging in large parts of the city. With water knee-deep on many streets, business was disrupted and the transport system ground to a halt.

From fire to water to the disposal of solid waste -- Dhaka, a teeming metropolis of more than 11 million people, is poorly equipped to deal with any kind of urban stress. It routinely fails to deliver basic services to a large proportion of its residents -- services that in any other part of the world would be taken for granted.

Unplanned urbanisation and shoddy construction poses an earthquake hazard.

Dhaka has earned the dubious distinction of being the second worst polluted and unliveable city of the world by a survey conducted over 140 cities by the Economist Intelligence Group, an organisation associated with The Economist. A World Bank study suggests that the soaring pollution level in the capital city is causing the premature death of about 40,000 people every year.

It wasn't always like this. In 1823, British surgeon, writer and artist James Atkinson exclaimed: “Dacca is one of the most delightful stations in India, its climate being healthy and agreeable, its bazaars abundantly supplied ... and each commodity the most excellent of its kind.”

Fast forward to 2010, and Dhaka is officially a megacity (defined by UN Habitat as an urban centre with more than 10 million people) creaking under its own weight. In 1950, fewer than 3,50,000 people lived in Dhaka. In the second half of the twentieth century, the city grew at a rate of more than six per cent annually. By 2020, it is projected, Dhaka will rank third in the world, with 20 million inhabitants. With 300,000 - 400,000 new migrants swelling its ranks each year, Dhaka is one of the world's fastest growing cities.

The land use challenges presented by Dhaka's phenomenal expansion are also extraordinary. The city has pushed outwards from 73 sq. km in the 1950s to 1,530 sq. km by 2009.

The megacity poses mega challenges. Without a comprehensive policy for urbanisation and service delivery, Dhaka has not been able to keep up with the needs of its exploding population. City life is now characterised by excessively high land prices, a large slum population, low quality high-density housing, traffic congestion, power shortages, poor sanitation and drainage, irregular water supply, increasing air pollution, poor governance and growing problems of law and order.

“Dhaka offers considerable economic opportunity, and that is the main draw,” says urban planning expert Dr Jahangir Alam. “But the lack of adequate infrastructure and services, and increasing social and environmental problems mean the dream often turns into a nightmare for the people of Dhaka.”

With climate change driving extreme weather patterns, waterlogging remains one of Dhaka's major problems. Located as it is on the floodplains of the Meghna-Brahmaputra, Dhaka never enjoyed a totally satisfactory drainage system. But the situation has been compounded by rapid and unplanned urbanisation over the last few decades. Dhaka is surrounded by rivers -- the Buriganga to the south, Balu to the east; Tongi Khal to the north and Turag to the west. The drainage of the city mainly depends on the connectivity with these rivers and the levels of water in them at any given time of year.

Many of the canals, vital arteries for the drainage of storm water, have been encroached and even totally blocked by roads and buildings. Observers blame housing and land development companies for large-scale encroachment. Many areas that grew without planning of any sort have no drains to speak of, and rain water simply flows overland into adjacent watercourses or into low areas, causing severe waterlogging.

Dhaka, with 400 years of glorious history behind it, is now at a crossroads.

Adding to Dhaka's woes is its perennial waste disposal problem. The city produces around 3,500 tonnes of solid waste every day. The under-equipped Dhaka City Corporation can only collect half the trash while the rest is left to rot in the open. As the city fans out in rings of crowded slums, the DCC struggles to provide its citizens with such basic amenities as decent sanitation and drinkable water.

The capital's never-ending traffic congestion is another sign of inefficient urban management. Where modern urban planning requires a minimum road surface area of 25 percent, only 7.5 percent of Dhaka's total area is dedicated to roads. Up to one third of this road area is occupied by hawkers and floating shops, resulting in traffic gridlock.

Many residents have had enough. Fazlur Rashid, a retired civil engineer, has returned to his homeland after a lifetime in the US. Fazlur remembers a quieter, kinder and healthier Dhaka and says he is stunned by the state the city is in. His son, Tareq Rashid, a pharmacist who came back to take up a position with a local pharmaceutical company, says he wants to pack up and leave.

“Things are getting impossible,” he exclaims. “On weekdays, it takes me two hours to get from our house in Uttara to my office in Mohakhali. On weekends, it takes barely 15 minutes. I spend six hours every day in traffic. Last month, my car was flooded in the garage after overnight rain. There is no planning anywhere!”

Although most city dwellers may not know this, Dhaka has had a world class Master Plan for more than a decade. In 1991, the government decided that unplanned growth could no longer be allowed and approached UNDP and UN Habitat for help. International urban planning experts were brought in to formulate a plan for expansion of the city. The result was the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP). The master plan, finalised in 1995 and gazetted in 1997, laid down guidelines for future land use in Dhaka. But it said the DMDP was to be implemented through the preparation of a Detailed Area Plan (DAP) which would specify land use at plot level.

The DAP, the final tier of the master plan, has been a slow burner. Although it should have been launched soon after the DMDP gazette, political inertia and bureaucratic red tape meant seven years passed before Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk), the city planning and regulatory body, got started on it. Meanwhile, unauthorised construction and haphazard development turned Dhaka into a top-heavy and inefficient city.

Chawk Bazar 1885. PHOTO: JOHNSON & HOFFMAN. COURTESY: BRITISH LIBRARY	Chawk Bazar 2010. PHOTO: ZAHEDUL I KHAN

In 2004, work on DAP finally started. Four years, and Taka 250 million later, the consultants submitted a 20-volume draft. The draft DAP was immediately criticised by urban planners and environmentalists who said it was inconsistent with the master plan, didn't protect the flood flow zones marked by DMDP and allocated disproportionate chunks of land for commercial development. The government set up a review committee headed by noted academician and civil engineer Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury to address the concerns. The expert committee made changes and the Detailed Area Plan was finally gazetted on June 22 this year.

But the battle lines had already been drawn. Planning a megacity is difficult, but whipping into shape a city that has already grown out of control was always going to be a Herculean task.

Land developers and real estate businesspeople came out strongly against the DAP. In a highly public spat on June 13, the Bangladesh Land Developers Association (BLDA) leader Ahmed Akbar Sobhan (Shah Alam) rebuked the State Minister for Housing and Public Works Advocate Abdul Mannan Khan, and accused him of forgetting the real estate sector's contribution to the GDP.

The real estate businesspeople claim that the plan has been drawn up by non-governmental organisation (NGO) activists, not by urban planners and differs from the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP). The notification of the final gazette was also issued without any consultation with local lawmakers violating the Terms of Reference, they say.

Nasrul Hamid Bipu, a ruling party lawmaker and the acting president of Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) says: “This plan was based on statistics from 1995 and you cannot make a master plan with outdated statistics.”

Bipu, who sits on the parliamentary watchdog body on Housing although he is himself a real estate businessman, says that in the master plan, there was a provision for “sub flood-flow zones” where projects were allowed, but in the DAP, that category has been illegally abolished leaving 21 percent of the city marked as flood flow zone. It was not practical to leave one fifth of the city undeveloped, especially in view of the fact that many development activities are ongoing in those areas, he suggests. Bipu adds that the lawmakers were not consulted before the DAP was finalized.

Narrow roads and hairpin turns make service delivery extremely difficult.

But the DAP has attracted broad support from a cross section of Dhakaites, including civil society who feel that it is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to impose order on Dhaka's urban chaos.

Dr Sarwar Jahan, President of the Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP) and a member of the DAP review committee refutes the allegations. “We met with the lawmakers several times. The 21 percent area for water bodies is nothing new -- it was present in the 1997 master plan. Experts arrived at it after international studies such as the Flood Action Plan (FAP).”

Dr Jahan explains the abolition of the sub flood-flow zone category. “The sub-flow zone allowed structures that would not obstruct the flow of flood water, such as houses on stilts. But the committee decided that it would open the way for abuse. So we merged the categories.”

Echoing Dr Jahan, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Director of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) says: “I am amazed by the audacity of those who say the flood flow zones allocation should be decreased since some structures have been built there. Who authorised those haphazard structures? They are in clear violation of the DMDP.”

The gazette notification throws light on some of the main features of the DAP. The DAP specifies land use in the designated 1528 sq km at plot level. It protects 21 percent of the city as flood flow zone based on the recommendation of the master plan. It requires non-conforming structures to be relocated within a reasonable time frame. The DAP also recommends the setting aside of 50 metres alongside rivers to construct a road and walkway.

“But the DAP does not require the acquisition of new land by the government,” explains Rizwana Hasan. “It does not recommend setting up of satellite towns, although certain vested quarters are spreading misinformation regarding this.”

The DAP gazette says that no one can use any land for any purpose other than that laid down in the approved master plan without special permission of the government.

Some experts say the DAP does not go far enough. “It lacks a vision for the urban poor,” says Dr Jahangir Alam. “It has a motor vehicle-dependent vision while the trend worldwide is that of networked services that people can reach on foot. Unless we can have a pro-poor policy, the gap between the haves and have-nots will continue to widen.”

In the shadow of the swanking new high-rise buildings of Gulshan lies a vast slum. A strip of water separates the two worlds -- a dark viscous liquid that seems to part reluctantly before the bow of the boat.

Shamsuddin, an electrician, lives in a tin-roofed shack in the slum locally known as Korail Bosti. He says the water supply is irregular and the sewage system is non-existent. “In the summer, we sometimes have to queue up for water when the Dwasa truck comes. I want to get out of here, but I won’t be able to afford the rent elsewhere.”

There are no slum dog millionaires here. The vibrancy of the slums of Dhaka is the feverish energy of people who have no safety net and who must keep going to survive.

Despite the shortcomings, most analysts are convinced that DAP is the only way forward. “Implementation of DAP will ensure that waterlogging, haphazard construction and the traffic jams will improve,” says Rizwana Hasan. “The city will have a breathing space.”

“DAP was supposed to run until 2015,” says Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury. “We have already recommended that work should start on a new one that will take us to 2030 and beyond.”

Dhaka, with 400 years of glorious history behind it, is now at a crossroads. It can become a vast sprawl literally drowning in its own filth, ravaged by disease, and haunted by a scavenger class living off the refuse of the city. Or it can become, through judicious planning, the delightful city James Atkinson praised so long ago.

Many water bodies are filled up illegally for haphazard construction.

"DAP is a crucial test case for our urban future."

Prof Jamilur Reza Choudhury

Prof Jamilur Reza Choudhury, noted academician and civil engineer, headed two committees that reviewed the Detailed Area Plan for the capital Dhaka before it was gazetted. Prof Chowdhury spoke to The Star about the process that led to DAP and its importance for the people of Dhaka.

Would it be fair to say DAP is a blueprint for land use in Dhaka?
Land use is just one aspect of DAP. The detailed area plan is a part of the overall Dhaka city master plan known as DMDP, which was initiated in 1991. We have not come up with DAP overnight. It is the last stage of the DMDP.

But there were objections after the draft DAP was prepared in 2008?
During the period, professional bodies like the Institute of Architects Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Institute of Planners, the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Associ-ation and the Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan raised objection about the draft plan saying, there are many inconsistencies and weaknesses in the draft DAP. Against this backdrop, the government formed a committee comprising experts and representatives from professional bodies to review the draft plan. Representatives from the ministry and from the four consulting firms were also incorporated in the committee. The review committee was asked to identify the weaknesses and asked to recommend what improvements are needed.

What were the guiding principles to earmark certain areas as flood-flow zone?
Our guiding principle was the DMDP. We did not suggest relocation of the projects or structures which were initiated or developed before the DMDP was gazetted in 1997. We found that several industries have already grown up in the places where there is a restriction in the DMDP. In the same manner, we saw there were many housing projects in the areas in which the land use is different from what is specified in the DMDP and which were initiated after the approval of the DMDP. We did not allow those industries and projects. We suggested relocation of the industries and projects gradually.

What would you say about the criticism that the review committee has earmarked most areas in the capital as flood-flow zones and that there has been no survey before preparing the Detailed Area Plan?
The area of flood-flow zones would be about 21 per cent. It is not correct that there was no survey before preparing the plan. The Japan International Cooperation Agency prepared a flood action plan (FAP) for the capital city where they identified Dhaka's water retention areas. Later, the Bangladesh Water Development Board appointed a British company to identify the water retention areas.

How would you respond to the criticism that the review committee has allowed the government projects but has disapproved the private housing projects?
It is not true. Rajuk requested us to give approval to their projects. But we told them that a single principle should be applied for all. Otherwise, Rajuk itself would not be able to remove the private housing projects. Because of government approval, we marked the Jhilmil and Purbachol project as overlay, but did not allow any expansion of these projects.

What are the major challenges to implementation of the newly gazetted Detailed Area Plan?
The authorities have to be strong enough to implement the Detailed Area Plan. The government has given the responsibility of implementing the plan to Rajuk. But Rajuk itself is not a very strong organisation. The government will have to take measures to increase the capability of Rajuk preferably by splitting it. Rajuk currently deals with three major tasks: approval of design and plan of buildings, developing lands and construction of road network. The government should form a different building regulatory authority. You see, implementation of the DAP might affect the interests of many vested groups. So the vested groups would try to obstruct its implementation.

What would be the worst case scenario if the DAP is not implemented properly on the ground?
If DAP is not implemented, Dhaka will become an unliveable city. Not only Dhaka -- DAP is a crucial test case for our urban future. If the government does not show political will to implement DAP, the same will happen in our other cities. We will become a country of unplanned slums.

With climate change driving extreme weather patterns, waterlogging remains one of Dhaka's major problems.

L-R: Hazardous waste from the Hazaribagh tanneries pour into the river system. Seven-storey buildings overlook the international airport, posing a grave threat.

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