TODAY Dhaka is growing without guidance of any master plan. The Master Plan and its contents today remain constrained within theoretical definitions of structure plans, master plans and area development plans. The need of the day is to find a process by which the city can derive benefits from execution of the current plan. Planning contents of the two last master plans for Dhaka are discussed and gaps in implementation of both plan documents are highlighted below:
The first formal plan for Dhaka was made in 1917 by Professor Patrick Geddes, the much respected British town planner, in the concept of a Garden City and evident from the romantic street pattern and garden of the Ramna area. It reports on town planning for Dhaka after detailed analysis of problems and predicts Dhaka's possibilities to become a beautiful city with parks and canals. Dhaka city was divided into zones as shown in Fig. 1 in this plan, which offered an outline for development of the old town area with colonial offices and residential buildings around Ramna Green.
The East Pakistan Government created the Dhaka Improvement Trust (DIT) in 1956. The Master Plan for Dhaka 1960 was commissioned by the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations in August 1957 and DIT was recipient of the plan. The area of the plan was approximately 220 sq.miles and included the port town of Narayanganj. The plan area with its existing and proposed boundaries is shown in Fig. 2.
Problems identified and major assumptions of 1960 Master Plan
Both Dhaka and Narayanganj suffer from shortages of suitably located high land, free from annual flooding. The 1960 Master Plan envisaged that large areas would be needed for expansion purposes, principally for residential development, to accommodate natural increase. It provided for population to be displaced from the old city by slum clearance to relieve existing overcrowding. The plan predicted that expansion was possible only the North.
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Figure 1: Dhaka City Map of 1917 |
It saw the future Dhaka in an elongated form with the old town as its broad base and its apex as two northward thrusting prongs, one following the railway to Tongi, and the other to the West in the direction of Mirpur.
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Photo:star |
Reclamation of selected areas of low lying land nearer to Dhaka with which to augment the limited supply of building land is mentioned in the report. Congestion in the old central area was identified as a major problem. This was proposed to be improved by developing a framework of major roads by undertaking extensive schemes of slum clearance, and by creating open spaces.
Proposal for additional housing areas and removal of Dhaka University were also made. Mirpur at that time was seven miles away from the main city area and seen as a residential satellite town for the working population of Dhaka.
Expansion of the Trust's northern boundary to include all land at Tongi suitable for building was proposed along with northward extension of the city boundary from Demra along both sides of the Lakhya River. Both these extension proposals were implemented at a later stage though Tongi was developed mainly as an industrial zone. Land on the south bank of the Buriganga River was to be controlled by the Trust and if on investigation found practicable, the Trust was supposed to reclaim an extensive area for development. Eight major road proposals were made and all of them were implemented over the next 30 years. Today these roads form the arteries of the city.
Concerning local planning, the plan stated that control over the use of land and buildings, whether for development by government departments or private individuals, should vest in a single planning authority, in this case the DIT which continued to execute the plan of 1960 without any revision till the nineties.
Execution of the 1960 Master Plan
The content of the 1960 Master Plan report was comprehensive and sensible. DIT followed the plan quite diligently and developed the transport network, residential, commercial and industrial areas according to the guidelines. However, plan and the population projections could not cover growth after 1971.
For example, the plan recommended residential densities of 200 persons per acre and net density of 334 persons per acre. At the predicted growth rate the plan assumed the need for 50,000 housing units for an increase of 0.4 million in population in 20 years time. In reality the increase in Dhaka's population 20 years later was more than 3.0 million and the housing need of this time is close to 3 million.
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Figure 2: Dhaka City Map showing Existing and Proposed DIT Boundary, 1960 |
The report also gave a lot of importance to displaced people and slum rehabilitation as a consequence of urban renewal. Accordingly, residential areas were demarcated and planned residential areas of Dhaka city today, including Mirpur and Dhanmondi are examples. For Dhaka and Narayanganj relevant landuse transport routes and bridges were proposed and executed. Proposals for other forms of landuse such as clearance of slums and dilapidated areas did not receive much attention and densification of such areas continued both in Dhaka and Narayanganj. Tongi, developed as an industrial area, although large tracts of unused land became settlements of migrant labours after liberation.
The plan did not propose removal of areas such as the Cantonment, Peelkhana and Old Airport that are not in public use; instead, it proposed shifting of the Dhaka University campus without considering the historical significance of the site. The study in this sense lacked sensitivity and pro-people development strategies.
DIT as the executive authority was entrusted with both planning functions and their execution. It continued to plan and develop, mostly following the Master Plan, without taking into account socio-political changes that occurred after 1971. The guidelines of the plan suggested continuous review but this was not taken up seriously. Some half-hearted attempts for planning was taken in new areas like Shewrapara, Kamrangir Char, Joar Sahara, but these ended up only as planning exercises. Rather, the authority remained busy in managing its own land resources and raising funds for its internal fiscal management.
Dhaka's rapid and intense growth necessitated a fresh plan and the UNCHS undertook a series of studies for the urban areas of Bangladesh. A joint effort with ADB in 1980 produced an extensive study on Dhaka by the renowned consulting company Shank Land & Cox but the Planning Commission did not approve the report.
Finally, in 1991 the newly elected government took up the proposal for a Master Plan. This time two other British companies, namely Mott MacDonald Ltd. & Culpin Planning, were lead consultants. Ultimately, almost 30 years later a new Master Plan was undertaken and completed in 1997.
Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (1995-2015)
By 1991 Dhaka City had expanded to an area of 590 sq. miles (1528 sq. km.) with a population of 6 million. DIT was renamed RAJUK by this time and was dealing with the Metropolis without changes in its organisational structure. The Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP) was funded and executed by UNDP and the government of Bangladesh. The objectives were:
§ Preparation of integrated development plans and priority sectoral plans.
§ Installation of sustainable capabilities in RAJUK to prepare and implement such plans.
§ Improving the capacities of RAJUK and related national training, research and advisory institutions.
The plan had four components; planning, drainage and flood control, computerised data and mapping. It took 3 years from 1992-1995 to formulate the study and another two years to finalise reports and plans. The Master Plan reports are presented as a three-tiered plan process containing the Structure Plan, the Urban Area Plan, and Detailed Area Plans. The Structure Plan and the Urban Area Plan were published in two gazetted volumes.
The Structure Plan provides a long-term strategy up to the year 2015 for development of the Dhaka Metropolitan Region. It recommends spatial and sectoral policies for the DMDP area.
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Figure 3: Group Boundary of Detail Area Plan |
The Urban Area Plan provides a mid term strategy up to the year 2005 for development of existing urban areas. It delineates existing land uses and specific location of roads and other infrastructure facilities and provides indicative locations of future land uses and specifications to assist the government for guiding and managing development control.
The Detailed Area Plan is intended to be a part of the ongoing process as well as to provide more detailed planning proposals for local level planning is yet to be completed. The DMDP Plan area with the planning zones for DAP is shown in Fig. 3.
Execution of the 1997 Master Plan
13 years have elapsed since completion of this plan. The Structure and Urban Area Plan has been presented very methodically and directives for their implementation are very clear. But measures adopted for applications have been too slow;
a) By 2005 RAJUK should have completed all the detailed area plans and started their implementation at the local level but till now people are not sill aware of the DAP and its contents.
b) One of the major components of the Master Plan "Institutional Strengthening of RAJUK," has not been considered by the concerned ministry or by RAJUK. It is felt by many that RAJUK needs a big number of planners whereas it has only about 10 to deal with the task of planning for a mega city of approximately ten million inhabitants.
c) Today vast areas of the city have no detailed plans and people of these areas do not get permission to build. Informal development and unauthorised construction occur due to lack of plans. RAJUK has not been able to generate local interest or activity for community participation in planning so that building and landuse control could be a concern of the people and actually aid them in planning and building control.
Strategies for better utilisation of the Master Plan.
It is quite obvious that delays in implementation of the Master Plan will make it redundant. Series of actions needs to be taken up immediately to implement the plan objectives and to gain its benefits. Some measures that need to be taken up are mentioned below,
RAJUK must increase its manpower. It must have adequate number of professional and technical manpower worthy of executing planning functions for this mega city.
RAJUK must implement the detailed area plans as quickly as possible.
RAJUK must place total emphasis on its planning activities and quit land development functions. Decentralisation of RAJUK planning body into at least 10
Zonal Offices is necessary. This could be merged with DCC's zonal offices so that city planning and service management functions can work together in coordination for the benefit of the city.
RAJUK has limited power for adopting legal measures dealing with building control, which hinders its functions. Special laws have to be enacted to empower RAJUK for planning and building control functions.
RAJUK must make its plan, programmes and activities more pro-poor. What RAJUK plans and does is only of relevance to the top twenty percentile. RAJUK controls planning for 10 million people but it has never revealed how many of the inhabitants it is actually serving. As much as 70 percent dwellers of this mega city are dwellers of slum and squatter settlements but RAJUK's planning actions have totally disregarded them.
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