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SAVE DHAKA ROUND TABLE

Make room for floating people

By Reaz Ahmad
Population-wise, Dhaka may be considered one of the most rapidly growing cities of the world. Each year, an estimated three lakh people move into the city from the countryside with the intention of staying permanently. , The continued influx is changing the life-style in the capital. This large inflow worries town planners, who find it very difficult to plan ac commodation for them.
Overall, the number of people is on the rise, while land remains limited. So, getting a place has become the number one priority to anyone who intends to settle down in this city of 8.6 million people.
Tne problems of land crisis and land use figured prominently at The Daily Star-BUET Roundtable on 'Save Dhaka' held recently.
Participants in tne conference overwhelmingly expressed the view that a large segment of the land remains unutilized in Dhaka while a significant portion is occupied in a rather unproductive manner.
According to a rough estimate, half of the city 's population live below the povertyline. Some 1.5 million people live in shacks in most unhy-
Knic condition that give m the identity of slum-dwcllers'
Again, a sizeable number of people who have no place to sleep |ust simply spend then nights without roof on . their head.
The city's demarcated area was only 320 square miles when the now-defunct Dhaka Improvement Trust IDIT) came into being in 1956. Now the city area under the Rajdhani Unnayari Karti-pakkha (RAJUK) which is responsible for its development works, stands at around 590 sq miles.
Again, land area in the city that tails under the jurisdic tion of the Dhaka City Corporation is about 345 sq km while the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) calculates 415 sq km area under it. But, "the real built-up size of the city is much smaller." said Dr M Shahidui Ameen. who teaches architecture in Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
Scarcity of land in Dhaka characterizes the geographical growth of the city itself, he said. The scope foi horizontal expansion of Dhaka is restricted by rivers like Burig-anga, Turag and Balu — which
encompass the city from different directions.
However, earth filling in the low-lying peripheral areas might be a way out in expanding the city, suggested Dr Ameen.
Prof Muntasir Mamoon of the Department of Histoiy, Dhaka University, strongly suggested that more than 6,000 acres of prime' land under the Dhaka Cantonment and the BDR in Peelkhana should be vacated to make room for the city's expansion. No feasible solution to the land crisis in the city can be thought of without relocating these two areas, he observed.
In this context, RAJUK Chairman Humayun Khadem said that his institution was trying for property development in the peripheral areas.
A representative of the real estate developers expressed the view that time has come for concentrating on vertical expansion of the city as the scope for horizontal expansion has already been exhausted.
However, the vital question of providing living arrangements for the majority of tne city's poor, who simply cannot afford either a piece of land or an apartment remains to be addressed immediately.