Hazaribagh to be turned into planned township
The Hazaribagh tannery industry site that had long been subjected to rampant pollution would be regenerated as a modern township with 45 residential high-rises and civic amenities, according to top officials of Dhaka's development regulator Rajuk.
The 65-acre area -- now abandoned following relocation of tanneries to Savar and earmarked as an open space in the city's detailed area plan -- will be both residential and commercial, Rajuk Chairman Md. Abdur Rahman said yesterday.
“Our aim is to regenerate what is now a highly contaminated wasteland where no individual should invest money on isolated development,” he said while chairing a session at Rajuk on proposed redevelopment plan for Hazaribagh.
The now-toxic area can be rejuvenated with 20 percent reserve urban forest, water bodies and tree planation, said Ashraful Islam, project director of Dhaka revised detailed area plan (DAP).
Rajuk will play the role of facilitator in this process, he said.
The benefits of redevelopment would include ready flats, civic amenities, a planned township with rain harvesting and solar power, effluent treatment plant, solid waste transfer station and greenery, he said.
At present, there are a total of 874 mostly dilapidated structures of industrial, commercial and residential nature in Hazaribagh, he said while presenting the proposed plan.
There are three major roads proposed for Hazaribagh in the DAP: an 80-ft wide one across the township, a 60-ft wide road to the east and a 40-ft one to the north and south.
At present, water and soil in Hazaribagh are highly contaminated with excessive untreated heavy metal chromium that 243 tanneries have directly released over the decades, he said, adding that treatment of top soil and plantation might help improve soil condition.
Valuable land in Hazaribagh is underutilised and the area lacks open space, parks, playgrounds, healthcare facilities and other civic amenities, said Ashraf, also a Rajuk town planner.
All the desired civic facilities can be put in place alongside property development -- an idea that has achieved success stories in Singapore, Japan, China, India, South Korea and Thailand, he said.
In this concept, numerous fragmented lands are merged together to accommodate dwelling and business with vertical development, and individual land owners get proportionate return of land value either in cash or in the form of built-up space, he said.
Redevelopment can be financed by foreign or local lenders or by the government, he said. It may take a period of five years and any loan would be paid off with additional vertically built-up saleable space, he added.
Noted urban planner Khondker M Ansar Hossain, planner-architect Salma A Shafi and Bangladesh Tanners Association chairman Md. Shaheen Ahamed also spoke, among others.
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