DESPITE LGRD Minister Tajul Islam’s last Sunday assurance that Dhaka will be transformed into a modern and liveable city, the proposed Detailed Area Plan (DAP) for the capital is facing severe criticism from architects and urban planners. The flawed DAP, if implemented, will banish 70% of natural waterbodies and flood flow zones will be severely hindered. Experts warned that the DAP will hamper the bio-diversity and made water logging problem more acute. The government must get rid of vested profit-monger realtors’ claws to design the capital city for its sustainability.
The draft DAP has proposed a modification in the classification of flood flow zones. There is a clear point in the preparation of the DAP, which mentions demarcating rivers, canals, water bodies, water retention and catchment areas based on surveys done during the British and Pakistani eras and mouja maps. The draft DAP proposes two separate terms for the current zones — primary waterbody and general waterbody. This draft mentions allowing construction (conditionally) on the general waterbodies, which will be severely detrimental to the city and its people. Upon implementation of such plans, the city will risk losing 70 percent of its waterbodies, and the proportion of flood flow zones will be reduced to 17 percent.
The draft DAP proposes a community parking system, but does not specify where and how they will arrange the land for such a parking system. So this proposition may end in cars’ occupying more space on the roads due to the lack of parking in buildings. Experts proposed enlisting 2,200 structures that the court has declared protection for, as heritage sites in the DAP. In the proposed DAP, only five percent area has been designated as purely residential, while the rest will be a mix of residential and commercial. Unfortunately, despite over 40 lakh people living in slums, the DAP makes no emphasis on low-cost housing facilities for low-income poor people.
The draft DAP has proposed a modification in the classification of flood flow zones. There is a clear point in the preparation of the DAP, which mentions demarcating rivers, canals, water bodies, water retention and catchment areas based on surveys done during the British and Pakistani eras and mouja maps. The draft DAP proposes two separate terms for the current zones — primary waterbody and general waterbody. This draft mentions allowing construction (conditionally) on the general waterbodies, which will be severely detrimental to the city and its people. Upon implementation of such plans, the city will risk losing 70 percent of its waterbodies, and the proportion of flood flow zones will be reduced to 17 percent.
The draft DAP proposes a community parking system, but does not specify where and how they will arrange the land for such a parking system. So this proposition may end in cars’ occupying more space on the roads due to the lack of parking in buildings. Experts proposed enlisting 2,200 structures that the court has declared protection for, as heritage sites in the DAP. In the proposed DAP, only five percent area has been designated as purely residential, while the rest will be a mix of residential and commercial. Unfortunately, despite over 40 lakh people living in slums, the DAP makes no emphasis on low-cost housing facilities for low-income poor people.
