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DOWN TO EARTH

Residential areas shed their intrinsic character

ASM NURUNNABI
It is a deplorable fact that in the absence of proper zoning laws for the Dhaka city, posh residential areas like Dhanmondi, Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara, Uttara have shed much of their 'intrinsic' character. All these areas had seen better times in the past and a commercial character has crept up already.
Dhanmondi was once noted as an excellent residential area. The one-bigha plots in this area offered a good scope for the growth of suitable residences with enough space for gardens and greenery. All this changed within a decade, as schools, clinics, fast-food shops, banks and other commercial establishments began to crop up all over. The non-residential characteristics of the place have lately become so predominant that acute traffic congestion currently prevails in the area.
The same fate has befallen other 'elite' residential areas in Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara and lately Uttara. Establishments like hotels and restaurants, banks, insurance companies, shopping malls and other
commercial and industrial offices have come up effacing the residential character.
Ten to 15 years ago, such developments were unimaginable. In the late 60s and early 70s, Gulshan and Banani residential areas were laid out, followed by Baridhara in the 80s and later Uttara. The affluent were allotted residential plots by RAJUK. In Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara areas, such allottees included big industrialists, and businessmen, high-ranking bureaucrats, ministers and MPs in power and other rich professionals. In these areas, specific diplomatic zones, particularly in Gulshan and Baridhara were set aside for embassies of different countries. The residential accommodation for the high-ups of the missions were also located in the same areas. As a result, these areas came to be regarded as select areas carrying importance. At the same time, the value of land began to rise by leaps and bounds. This led to the emergence of commercial incentives in shaping further development of these areas, which significantly reduced the residential aspects.
This trend attracted the attention of real estate development agencies which began buying up residential buildings for conversion into high-rise ones. For commercial projects, the developers initially preferred sites on the main roads which conveniently served their commercial needs. Their apartment projects, though equally prized, enjoy a somewhat lower priority as compared with the commercial projects. The main driving force for the latter is the highly profitable returns from such enterprises.
As a result, most plots in those areas which previously had single or two-storey houses having a spick-and-span look with large grassy lawns, verdant gardens and select trees, vanished, giving place to multi-storied structures with a predominantly commercial bias.
Inevitably, the craze for acquiring the prime land holdings threw up the price for such lands so much so that the present price might seem staggering. In 1970, the price per bigha of land in Gulshan was Tk 5 lakh, as fixed by RAJUK. Such price has now reportedly skyrocketed to Tk 1 crore on the open market which compares favourably with the exorbitant price of land in Tokyo. This trend gives an indication as to how viable commercial enterprises in the posh areas built on such costly lands are regarded by real estate builders.
Uttara Model Town was once a very peaceful place to live in. The residents used to enjoy the facilities of a modern town and tranquillity of a suburb. Tranquility has been changing fast owing to several factors, the more important of which is the growth of commercial establishments on the main roads. The development of this township was undertaken by Rajuk especially for the city dwellers of middle-income bracket. Life nowadays at Uttara has been bedevilled by many-fold problems due to social and environmental degradation experienced over the past several years. The types of degradations include (1) setting of innumerable number of 'kutcha' bazaars here and there on the roadside, (2) there are numerous wayside shops, grocery shops and tailoring establishments in nonspecified places in the residential area. Besides, there are a good number of bigger commercial establishments and some restaurants on the main roads that passed
through the residential area.
All this contributes to the growing traffic congestion in the area that was once free from such civic malady. This area, only a few years ago, enjoyed the benefit of somewhat lower house rent, as compared with the prevailing rent rates in Dhaka with similar facilities. The position has now changed with a population increase in that area. The living conditions in this residential area has been lately affected by the setting up of about a dozen garment industries in the area causing inconvenience to the residents and at the same time degrading the physical, ecological and social environment. The lakes and waterbodies suffer from neglect in as much as their waters are misused for public bathing and washing by washermen. Next come the pockets of slums.
The total picture emerging from the gradual erosion of the intrinsic character of these select residential zones reflects the many ills of the metropolitan city.