O p e n S p a c e ( p a r k s and playground)

5
1
0
0
Shopping
5
1
0
0
Here it is seen that for maximizing the profit the
private developers are selling more than 80% of the total project area. I n B a n g l a d e s h t h e
housing
problems
is
basically
for
the
lower
incomep e o p l e , b u t t h e p r i v a t e r e a l e s t a t e d e v e l o p e r s a r e d e v e l o
p i n g t h e apartments for the higher income people. Due to poor load
B e a r i n g - capacity of soil, high
r i s e b u i l d i n g s a r e v e r y d i f f i c u l t t o b u i l d i n p l a c e s being developed by real estate
companies at present. Hence, low density of residential area is resulting in the form of
inefficient utilization of the land resources. Urban area is expanding horizontally without
maintaining any guidelines. W h e r e s e l e c t i n g t h e p o t e n t i a l l a n d f o r p r i v a t e l a n d
banking, the urban expansion zone was given utmost priority.
T h e e x p a n s i o n z o n e i s t h e potential urban area where services and utility facilities are
supposed to expand within short period of time. When this area is facilitated with the
u t i l i t y a n d s e r v i c e s , t h e l a n d p r i c e a l s o i n c r e a s e s u b s t a n t i a l l y . T h i s i s a land
speculation process may be called private land banking which has created a belt around the
city. There are several impacts of this process:
To accommodate the incoming rural to urban migrants, the city needs to
expand.
But
this
belt
is
creating
hindrances
for
the
citye x p a n s i o n . T h e I n n e r c i t y i s f a c i n g t r e m e n d o u s p r
e s s u r e o f migration. Due to the skewed distribution of land, people are forced t o l i v e
in slums and squatters. At the same time the land value is also
i n c r e a s i n g . T h e r e s u l t i s a p o t e n t i a l l a n d p r i c e b u b b l e i n t h i s area.
People are purchasing the land, keeping them vacant for a few years to get more benefit while
selling the same. Hence, city is expanding with rural nature and rural areas are loosing its
identity.
City is forced to expand to a direction in a linear nature through
theg a p s o f t h e p r i v a t e l a n d b a n k s w h i c h i s n o t e i t h e r e x p e c t e d o r
planned before. S e v e r a l q u e s t i o n s c a n b e r a i s e d r e g a r d i n g t h e p o s i t i v e
i m p a c t s o f t h i s process. Through creating tremendous pressure on the core area
of the city whether or not, this process can maintain equity in the distribution of land.
Unfortunately the answer would be negative as the land ownership pattern is really
skewed and complex. Moreover large parcels of lands are

occupied by the government organization like Cantonment, Bangladesh Railway etc. at

the heart of the city which is either left vacant or under-utilized. Of course urbanization is
always
essential
for
economic
diversification
andc o u n t r y s l o n g t e r m s u s t a i n a b i l i t y . F r o m t h i s p o i n t o f v i e w , t h e s e r e a l e s t a t
e d e v e l o p e r s a r e p a t r o n i z i n g u r b a n i z a t i o n a l t e r n a t i v e l y h e l p i n g Banglades
h in its economic sustainability.
But,
where
urbanization
is
itself a b u r d e n f o r B a n g l a d e s h a n d h o w f a r t h i s p r o c
e s s c a n c r e a t e diversification that is questionable.
The unexpected and unplanned growth of residential areas is creatinge x t r a p r
o b l e m s f o r t h e c i t y m a n a g e r s . T h e r e i s n o l i n k b e t w e e n t h e existing
structure plan and the real estate developments. Consequently these projects are
creating sheer stress on the planned development of t h e c i t y .
T h i s i s a l s o c r e a t i n g p o l a r i z a t i o n i n t h e d e m a n d o f s e r v i c e s facilities.
2.6.1 Findings & Recommendations:
2.6.1.1 Right to Housing for all
The rich people housing is not a problem. If strengthening is the purpose, middle and low
income groups should be targeted. Due to the high price of l a n d , m o s t o f w h i c h i s p r i v a t e l y
owned,
it
has
become
very
difficult
toi n c l u d e m i d d l e a n d l o w i n c o m e p e o p l e i n a n y h o u s i n g s c h e m e . T h u s providing shelter for lowincome people without subsidies has becomequite difficult. Though provision f
o r m i d d l e a n d l o w - i n c o m e p e o p l e i s possible in government owned khas land, this process is
very difficult due to many cases became unsuccessful because it was observed that even if quality
shelter is provided for low-income people, ultimately those facilities a r e e n j o y e d b y t h e h i g h i n c o m e g r o u p . I n c l u s i o n o f r e l e v a n t e x p e r t s i n decision-making is required in this
regard and the private sector should also be involved in this process. The real estate sector should
incorporate the idea to set an example in the w o r l d b y p r o v i d i n g h o u s i n g f o r t h e p o o r .
T h e r e a r e m a n y e x a m p l e s o f allocating land at nominal prices but such examples are
not available for low-income people. In the absence of a land policy, it cannot be made clear

how land can be made available for new uses and how sharply increasing land prices can
be controlled. For low and middle-income people the problems of land
scarcity and high prices were of continuous concern. The price of one

katha (i.e. 720 sft) of land being around Tk. 50 lac has put low and middle-income people out of the
housing market. Though 30 per cent of people living in Dhaka are slum dwellers there is
noh o u s i n g p o l i c y f o r t h e m . T h e d e v e l o p e r s d e v e l o p f o r p r o f i t . I f p r o p e
r attention is not paid, the number of slum dwellers will increase rapidly. In t h e e a s t e r n f r i n g e o f
D h a k a a l l t h e l a n d s u p t o t h e B a l u R i v e r a r e b e i n g grabbed, and whatever development
is
taking
place
in
that
area
is
not
forl o w i n c o m e p e o p l e . T h e p u r c h a s e r s a r e c o n s t r a i n e d b y t h e i r c a p a c i t y especially because
of the high cost of borrowing.
2.6.1.2 Housing Ignored in Research
It has been observed that research on the housing sector is qu
i t e inadequate, studies by academics are mostly theoretical with an academic bias; when they are
conducted by developers, business gets the utmost emphasis; when the government
themselves perform the study only the thoughts of the government are reflected.
2.6.1.3 Control over the Real Estate Sector
About 95 per cent of the business in the real estate sector is controlled by1 0 c o m p a n i e s a n d
4 7 . 3 p e r c e n t o f t o t a l p r i v a t e i n v e s t m e n t i s i n t h e housing sector. These
ten companies have a large share of total private investment. I n r e c e n t d a y s , m o r e a n d
m o r e c o m p a n i e s a n d m a n y c o r p o r a t e b o d i e s with surplus capacity to invest have
entered
the
real
estate
sector.
Theya r e b u y i n g h u n d r e d s o f a c r e s o f w e t l a n d f o r f i l l i n g a n d d e v e l o p m e
n t . However, this will not contribute to a sustainable environment.
2.6.1.4 Dhaka City of Migrants
Though Dhaka stretches over a very small area and through in-emigration a l o n e i t s
p o p u l a t i o n i s g r o w i n g b y 2 . 5 t o 3 l a c e v e r y y e a r a n d c u r r e n t l y totals 30 lac slum
dwellers, an appropriate land policy is still missing. The draft housing policy formulated in 1991
projected that 3.1 million housing u n i t s f o r u r b a n a r e a s a n d a n o t h e r 2 . 1 m i l l i o n w i l l b e
r e q u i r e d f o r r u r a l areas. Thus, the total demand of new housing units is likely to
exceed 5million per year. However, in the paper the number was mentioned to be 4million, which was
considered as an underestimation.