The growth of urban population far outstrips the newly-constructed housing facilities in our cities and towns. The problem is the acuteat in Dhaka city. While tills accommodation crunch in the metropolis is well known, what is often less focused and therefore the authority concerned feels no urgency to act for a redress is the lack of proper planning in the construction of residential houses. Residential areas are expanding In a haphazard manner with* no consideration for physical environment. A report published in an English daily has drawn the attention to various anomalies of the housing sector.

x Both Individual owners and real estate companies. according to the report, have been found guilty of violating the Construction Act. The defiance of the Act has been further helped by the delay in revising the city master plan. The way residentlal-cum-shopping complexes are coming up Is enough to give clue to a nightmarish scenario of the city in the near future. Housing complexes in particular have little or no space around In contravention of rules; and due to the inclusion of shopping arcades, the pressure on parking lots and road spaces Is staggeringly intensified.

Now the new city master plan envisages a dispersal of residential and shopping facilities so that the pressure of vehicles and people at the centre of the city can be significantly lessened. The best way to do so is to set up a number of satellite towns on the outskirts of the city. Now the question is. why instead of taking such a step, permission is being given to build sky-scrapers In the heart of the city with so little space around? The Rajuk should know better. The plan for setting up satellite towns should be taken up immediately. Already we are confronting a rapidly deteriorating city environment owing to our failure to see beyond odr noses. If we continue to foul up the city environment by not setting aside the breathing spaces such as parks and playgrounds, and lakes and canals, the latter acting as a natural drainage system besides their usual role as beautlfiers. we are surely doomed to suffer heavily In the long run.

Time is fast running out for us to address the city’s congestion problems and the environmental threats through an integrated package of actions.