Dhaka-centric housing plans discouraged to save city environment

Banglapress Published: 23 September 2025, 10:26 AM

Dhaka-centric housing plans discouraged to save city environment

Bangla Press Desk: Prominent citizens have urged policymakers to avoid Dhaka-centric housing plans while amending the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) to make the capital liveable. They also called for measures to free Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) from corruption and mismanagement in order to improve the quality of life in the city. The views were shared by politicians, architects, journalists and urban experts at a citizen dialogue titled “Complexities surrounding DAP in Sustainable Urbanisation”, organised by the Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) at the CIRDAP auditorium in Dhaka on Wednesday. RAJUK published the DAP as a gazette in 2022, outlining plans to make Dhaka more liveable. Since then, its implementation has stalled amid divided opinions for and against the plan.

Speakers stressed the need for concerted efforts from all stakeholders, noting that raising the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) to allow high-rise buildings could endanger the environment, while lowering it could worsen the housing crisis in the country’s economic and administrative hub. FAR is the ratio of a building’s total floor area to the size of the plot on which it stands. Speaking at the event, former state minister for Housing and Public Works Alamgir Kabir said that corruption and mismanagement remain the city’s biggest problems. He emphasised the need to recruit honest and capable individuals across the board. Mohammad Abdul Mazid, former chairman of the National Board of Revenue, warned that repeated changes to the DAP would only complicate the law. He called for greater integration at the planning stage and urged coordinated decision-making.

Jatiya Party General Secretary Barrister Shameem Haider Patwary stressed that decentralisation of Dhaka is essential. He said that pressure on the capital would decline if villages were developed, adding that the importance of upazilas should be strengthened while reducing overdependence on Dhaka. Former MP Nilufar Chowdhury Moni highlighted the city’s earthquake risks, urging real estate developers to take them into account. Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) General Secretary Ruhin Hossain Prince warned that Dhaka’s population would continue to rise unless coastal areas were developed. He also stressed the need to prioritise the working class rather than focusing solely on the urban elite. The keynote paper was presented by CGS Executive Director Parvez Karim Abbasi, while CGS President Zillur Rahman moderated the session. This article was originally published on Daily Sun.

[Bangla Press is a global platform for free thought. It provides impartial news, analysis, and commentary for independent-minded individuals. Our goal is to bring about positive change, which is more important today than ever before.]

Dhaka-centric housing plans discouraged to save city environment

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