Local government minister Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain said the government contemplates launching a rural housing policy suggesting construction of multi-storied buildings in villages to save dwindling agricultural land alongside formulating a 20-year structure plan for the capital Dhaka.
“We have taken initiatives to ensure proper land use in rural areas as part of which multistoried buildings will be planned for rural areas to save dwindling arable lands,” he told a discussion organised on Monday by Housing and public works ministry to mark the World Habitat Day at Osmani Memorial Auditorium here.
The minister said the draft of a 20-year policy level “structure plan” for the capital Dhaka was already been formulated while it was currently being revised incorporating stakeholders opinions.
“We have taken the initiative (for structure plan) keeping in mind the fast growing population of the capital . . . we expect the plan to be submitted for approval in next few months to make Dhaka a healthy habitat,” Hossain said.
According to the world urbanization prospect 2014, the population of the Dhaka city will be 2.73 crore that was 1.51 crore as per the census of 2011.
“Dhaka is predicted to be the 6th largest city of the world by 2030 in terms of population . . . but by now it became an overcrowded city with limited amenities largely due to massive population influx from rural areas,” he said.
Hossain said the structural limitations intensified the problems of city life crippling peoples’ mobility as against a global standard requiring a city to have 25 percent of its area for thoroughfares, “we have only 8 percent in Dhaka”.
The minister urged the private housing developers to keep open space during construction of residential buildings.
Officials familiar with plan said RAJUK formulated the draft for 2015 to 2035 while it was the second such 20-year city plan since the first one was set to expire by the yearend.
“Soon after the plan is approved, detail area planning (DAP) will be initiated to implement it,” the RAJUK official told BSS on the sidelines of the discussion.
Presided over by housing and public works secretary M Moinuddin Abdullah, the meeting was also addressed by UNDP country director Pauline Tamesis, RAJUK Chairman G M Jaynal Abedin Bhuiyan and Dhaka University Professor AQM Mahmud.
