UNB, Dhaka :
The construction boom of housing projects in the country’s suburban areas will lead to an acute shortage of arable land and waterbodies if the government does not come up with a well-thought-out policy to control the unplanned constructions, said experts.
They said, protecting arable lands and waterbodies in suburban areas would soon become difficult if policies are not framed regarding building constructions.
Currently, Bangladesh is losing agricultural land at a rate of nearly 1 percent a year, according to a report of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
Data from the Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI) shows that over the course of 24 years before 2000, Bangladesh was losing arable land at an annual rate of 13,413 hectares; but since 2000, the rate has jumped to 68,690 hectares a year.
A survey, led by Abul Barakat, Economics professor at Dhaka University, found that some 2,096 bighas of farmland and water bodies were lost to non-agricultural uses a day since 2003.
Prof Nazrul Islam, an eminent urban planner, told UNB that real estate companies are constructing housing projects without the government’s permission, for which the recovery of the land or the rivers will become difficult in future.
He suggested the government to come up with a policy that only high-level lands can be used to construct all sorts of residential
and commercial buildings, not just in Dhaka, but throughout the country.
It is important to have a law regarding land use, he said, adding, “The proposed ‘City and Area Planning Act 2017’ is a positive step by the government in this direction, but it is still yet to be passed by parliament.”
The draft law was proposed on behalf of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGRD) Ministry, but it only went through an initial cabinet meeting approval.
This act, Nazrul thinks, will ease the land grabbing culture to some extent.
Speaking to UNB, Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain said that if someone intends to construct a house even at a village, permission will need to be taken. The City and Area Planning Act 2017 has been proposed in this regard, he added.
The draft act has been submitted to the Law Ministry, the minister said, where it will be subject to a vetting process, after which it will be placed at a cabinet meeting for the final approval.
The cabinet in a meeting on March 20 gave approval in principle to the draft act, which included a provision of five years rigorous imprisonment and fine of maximum Tk 5 lakh for those who would be found to have violated the law.
He is hopeful that the draft act will be placed in the next parliamentary session and will soon be implemented thereafter.
The Urban Development Director (UDD) will oversee the implementation of the act under his ministry.
Housing and Public Works Secretary Md Shahid Ullah Khandaker told UNB that once the law is passed, then effective steps can be taken to direct which land will be suitable for agriculture and non-agricultural purposes in urban and rural areas.
He also said, an experimental implementation process is already underway in Mymensingh, Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong’s Mirsarai. Once successful, it will be implemented across the country at district, upazila and union levels.
At union level, permissions to construct buildings will need to be taken from the union parishad (UP) chairman. The permission at various levels will need to be taken from the Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNOs) and municipality chairmen.
Whether the proposed housing projects are following the building code or not will be monitored by the district Public Works Department’s executive engineers who will head a technical committee to oversee such processes.
Any complication they may face while operating will be monitored by another supervising committee led by the public works secretary in Dhaka.
Shahid Ullah also mentioned that all their 76 UDDs and planners will be posted in all the districts gradually who will also monitor the construction processes in their respective districts or upazilas.
The construction boom of housing projects in the country’s suburban areas will lead to an acute shortage of arable land and waterbodies if the government does not come up with a well-thought-out policy to control the unplanned constructions, said experts.
They said, protecting arable lands and waterbodies in suburban areas would soon become difficult if policies are not framed regarding building constructions.
Currently, Bangladesh is losing agricultural land at a rate of nearly 1 percent a year, according to a report of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
Data from the Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI) shows that over the course of 24 years before 2000, Bangladesh was losing arable land at an annual rate of 13,413 hectares; but since 2000, the rate has jumped to 68,690 hectares a year.
A survey, led by Abul Barakat, Economics professor at Dhaka University, found that some 2,096 bighas of farmland and water bodies were lost to non-agricultural uses a day since 2003.
Prof Nazrul Islam, an eminent urban planner, told UNB that real estate companies are constructing housing projects without the government’s permission, for which the recovery of the land or the rivers will become difficult in future.
He suggested the government to come up with a policy that only high-level lands can be used to construct all sorts of residential
and commercial buildings, not just in Dhaka, but throughout the country.
It is important to have a law regarding land use, he said, adding, “The proposed ‘City and Area Planning Act 2017’ is a positive step by the government in this direction, but it is still yet to be passed by parliament.”
The draft law was proposed on behalf of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGRD) Ministry, but it only went through an initial cabinet meeting approval.
This act, Nazrul thinks, will ease the land grabbing culture to some extent.
Speaking to UNB, Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain said that if someone intends to construct a house even at a village, permission will need to be taken. The City and Area Planning Act 2017 has been proposed in this regard, he added.
The draft act has been submitted to the Law Ministry, the minister said, where it will be subject to a vetting process, after which it will be placed at a cabinet meeting for the final approval.
The cabinet in a meeting on March 20 gave approval in principle to the draft act, which included a provision of five years rigorous imprisonment and fine of maximum Tk 5 lakh for those who would be found to have violated the law.
He is hopeful that the draft act will be placed in the next parliamentary session and will soon be implemented thereafter.
The Urban Development Director (UDD) will oversee the implementation of the act under his ministry.
Housing and Public Works Secretary Md Shahid Ullah Khandaker told UNB that once the law is passed, then effective steps can be taken to direct which land will be suitable for agriculture and non-agricultural purposes in urban and rural areas.
He also said, an experimental implementation process is already underway in Mymensingh, Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong’s Mirsarai. Once successful, it will be implemented across the country at district, upazila and union levels.
At union level, permissions to construct buildings will need to be taken from the union parishad (UP) chairman. The permission at various levels will need to be taken from the Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNOs) and municipality chairmen.
Whether the proposed housing projects are following the building code or not will be monitored by the district Public Works Department’s executive engineers who will head a technical committee to oversee such processes.
Any complication they may face while operating will be monitored by another supervising committee led by the public works secretary in Dhaka.
Shahid Ullah also mentioned that all their 76 UDDs and planners will be posted in all the districts gradually who will also monitor the construction processes in their respective districts or upazilas.
