News Desk :
RAJUK, which is the capital development authority, plans to limit the height of residential buildings in Dhaka to eight storeys in its latest zoning plan, reports bdnews24.com.
Previously, developers were allowed erect as high as 14-storey buildings in neighbourhoods such as Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara and Dhanmondi. But the new detailed area plan, or DAP, imposes an eight-storey cap, depending on the population density of a particular locality.
The plan, however, includes a provision to exceed the limit where around 40 to 60 percent of the housing plot is left as open spaces.
Urban planning experts have lauded the initiative to bridle the height of the skyscrapers in Dhaka in a bid to reduce occupancy. However, the Real Estate & Housing Association of Bangladesh, the apex body of realtors, has raised objections to the plan.
On Sept 2, the Ministry of Housing and Public Works published the first draft of the DAP. It is currently processing stakeholders’ recommendations. The new plan proposes to divide the entire DAP area into 468 community blocks and set a height limit for buildings in each block.
When demarcating these community blocks, the authorities will take into account the existing population, the road infrastructure, civic amenities, the level or type of development and the totality of areas used for residential purposes in each locality.
The new plan also introduces new provisions on legalisation of illegal structures for a fine, redevelopment of lands, redistribution of lands and transit-based development.
“There are some unfinished tasks-compiling, coordinating and finalising the recommendations. We’ll finish those and finalise the DAP by December,” RAJUK Chairman Md Sayeed Noor Alam told bdnews24.com.
The new DAP will be in effect for 20 years.
According to the new DAP, a building will not be allowed to exceed six-storeys in Kuril, Khilkhet, Nikunja in Dhaka North, seven storeys in Uttara, eight storeys in Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara. Meanwhile, the height of buildings will be capped to seven storeys in Mirpur and eight storeys in Mohammadpur and Lalmatia.
In Old Dhaka, which is under the jurisdiction of Dhaka South City Corporation, residential buildings can rise between four and eight storeys.
The maximum number of floors in residential buildings will be six in Narayanganj and Gazipur city and Savar Municipality, all of which fall under the jurisdiction of RAJUK.
At present, buildings are constructed in the capital in line with the DAP 2010 and Dhaka Metropolitan Building Construction Act 2008. The policy sets out the number of storeys a building can have based on the size of the plot.
The population density in the DAP area worsened after the Dhaka Metropolitan Building Construction Act 2008 came into effect. In every case, the building height was approved on the basis of its floor area ratio without considering any other factors.
As per the Building Construction Act 1996, the authorities used to approve a three-storey building on a three-katha land beside a three-metre wide road. But now, they approve an eight-storey building in the same area, the new DAP noted, citing the law, which was amended in 2008.
RAJUK, which is the capital development authority, plans to limit the height of residential buildings in Dhaka to eight storeys in its latest zoning plan, reports bdnews24.com.
Previously, developers were allowed erect as high as 14-storey buildings in neighbourhoods such as Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara and Dhanmondi. But the new detailed area plan, or DAP, imposes an eight-storey cap, depending on the population density of a particular locality.
The plan, however, includes a provision to exceed the limit where around 40 to 60 percent of the housing plot is left as open spaces.
Urban planning experts have lauded the initiative to bridle the height of the skyscrapers in Dhaka in a bid to reduce occupancy. However, the Real Estate & Housing Association of Bangladesh, the apex body of realtors, has raised objections to the plan.
On Sept 2, the Ministry of Housing and Public Works published the first draft of the DAP. It is currently processing stakeholders’ recommendations. The new plan proposes to divide the entire DAP area into 468 community blocks and set a height limit for buildings in each block.
When demarcating these community blocks, the authorities will take into account the existing population, the road infrastructure, civic amenities, the level or type of development and the totality of areas used for residential purposes in each locality.
The new plan also introduces new provisions on legalisation of illegal structures for a fine, redevelopment of lands, redistribution of lands and transit-based development.
“There are some unfinished tasks-compiling, coordinating and finalising the recommendations. We’ll finish those and finalise the DAP by December,” RAJUK Chairman Md Sayeed Noor Alam told bdnews24.com.
The new DAP will be in effect for 20 years.
According to the new DAP, a building will not be allowed to exceed six-storeys in Kuril, Khilkhet, Nikunja in Dhaka North, seven storeys in Uttara, eight storeys in Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara. Meanwhile, the height of buildings will be capped to seven storeys in Mirpur and eight storeys in Mohammadpur and Lalmatia.
In Old Dhaka, which is under the jurisdiction of Dhaka South City Corporation, residential buildings can rise between four and eight storeys.
The maximum number of floors in residential buildings will be six in Narayanganj and Gazipur city and Savar Municipality, all of which fall under the jurisdiction of RAJUK.
At present, buildings are constructed in the capital in line with the DAP 2010 and Dhaka Metropolitan Building Construction Act 2008. The policy sets out the number of storeys a building can have based on the size of the plot.
The population density in the DAP area worsened after the Dhaka Metropolitan Building Construction Act 2008 came into effect. In every case, the building height was approved on the basis of its floor area ratio without considering any other factors.
As per the Building Construction Act 1996, the authorities used to approve a three-storey building on a three-katha land beside a three-metre wide road. But now, they approve an eight-storey building in the same area, the new DAP noted, citing the law, which was amended in 2008.
