'Make old airport civic centre'

The four-acre Tejgaon Old Airport should be converted into a civic centre for the capital so that it becomes a multi-purpose arena capable of holding national events, suggested representatives of a think-tank at a seminar yesterday.
Moreover, effective measures should be taken for the “meaningful decentralisation” of Dhaka to make it a livable city and ensure the country's balanced development, they proposed.
Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC), working on governance and poverty, organised the seminar, “Urban Bangladesh Challenges of Transition” in the city's Cirdap auditorium.
The suggestions are the findings of a study, revealed at the seminar, on the challenges of urbanisation carried out by PPRC with support from World Bank and Department for International Development of UKaid.
Dhaka has no perfect place to hold a mass gathering like that of March 7, 1971 or for the Pohela Boishakh celebrations, said Dr Adnan Morshed, a member of the study team of PPRC.
Urban policies would fail unless Dhaka's rising population is controlled and reduced by developing other cities and new opportunities are provided in rural areas to reverse the inward trend of migration, he said.
In a survey on the reasons behind people flocking to Dhaka and Chittagong, the majority replied it was for employment followed by business purposes and education, said PPRC Executive Chairman Hossain Zillur Rahman.
Emphasising the need for decentralisation to reduce the pressure on Dhaka city, former governor of Bangladesh Bank Salehuddin Ahmed said the local government units must be provided with adequate resources for effective decentralisation.
Salehuddin, also a member of the study team, said though the economy grows from the produce of the rural areas, most of the development money is spent on urban areas.
Emphasising on protecting the city's environment, Environment and Forest Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud said it is high time to take up a sustainable and comprehensive plan otherwise the city will be “unmanageable” just after 10 years.
Each year two lakh acres from a total of two crore acres of arable land in the country is being destroyed due to unplanned urbanisation and industrialization, he added.
Head of Bangladesh Urban Forum Secretariat Prof Nazrul Islam, World Bank Country Director Ellen A Goldstein and a study member, Prof MA Taslim, also spoke at the seminar.