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Review of Dhaka Structure Plan 2016-2035

Research · January 2016

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.1065.8322

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 Review of Dhaka Structure Plan 2016-2035
Qazi Azizul Mowla

Review of Dhaka Structure Plan 2016-2035

Prof. Dr. Qazi Azizul Mowla, FIAB
Professional Urban Designer and Architect.

Introduction

The Dhaka Structure Plan 2016-2035 (DSP 2016-2035) was presented on 13 Sept
2015 by RajUK for public consultation. Dhaka Improvement Trust (DIT), the
predecessor to Rajuk, was formed without planning being a part of its original charter;
however, the Town Improvement Act 1953 was finally modified in 1987, transforming
DIT into RajUK (Rajdhani Unayon Kortipakhya - Capital Development authority) with
planning, coordination and directive powers. RajUK, in fact could never understand its
role and remained primarily a „public real estate developers agency‟. Its biggest failures
are, not to understand the real problem or to have a vision on which to work, but its
failure or inability to combine planning and implementation process. Because of RajUK‟s
incapacity, its efforts to intervene in planning and development have been made by one
or another set of interests - each grasping the elephant by only one of its parts and
misunderstanding the whole. DSP 2016-2035 is no exception, rather worst of the series
of attempts made for the planning of Dhaka since the beginning of the last century.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) in its project rational for financing this undertaking
started with saying that … its (RajUK) frameworks of urban planning and development
are not capable to meet the evolving demands… The DSP should take note of this
statement in mind while proposing an update. Any development plan requires a vision
before it is conceived and implemented but in the case of DSP 2016-35, there is neither
a vision nor any implementation strategy. It looks more like a real estate developer‟s
wishful road map for increasing buildable land at any cost.

(Excerpts from ADB‟s objectives for the project: “The Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan
(DMDP) and municipal development plans will be updated in a consistent manner to establish a
coherent regional development framework.

… current DMDP (1995–2015) will be updated for the period of 2016–2035 in order to reflect the
continued socioeconomic development of the Dhaka city region. Development plans for
pourashavas will be prepared and/or updated to ensure consistency with the DMDP… particular
emphasis on protecting the urban environment … Extensive public consultations will ensure
public participation …. RajUK will be responsible for updating the DMDP in collaboration … with
municipalities. The joint exercise will nurture a culture of collaboration between planning agencies
and municipalities.”)

Any urban and regional development plan should be embedded in the national strategy
and policies of the physical development guide lines ie Nationally, what portion
(percentage) of the land would be allocated for say urban/rural needs, industries, forest,
agriculture, wetland and water bodies etc or what are the national policies related to
above sectors and resonate with those. At all levels, the aim of intervention should be a
balanced development (not the destruction) considering economy, environment and
equity for the present as well as for future. There should be utmost attempt for
conservation of natural and (authorized and legal) manmade elements /environment

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and lastly it should be done in a transparent manner in consultation with the

stakeholders and ensuring public participation. The following review is done on the
basis of the above mentioned parameters.

Brief Review of Dhaka Structure Plan 2016-2036

Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RajUK) has initiated ADB financed project “Regional
Development Planning (RDP) under City Region Development Project (CRDP).
The main objectives of this project are; to review of the Dhaka Metropolitan
Development Plan (DMDP) and update for (not preparation of New) Structure Plan for
2016-2035; Preparation of a Feasibility Study and Master Plan for Satellite Cities in
consultation with other municipalities of the region and Capacity Building and Training
for Urban Planning Professionals of RajUK and others. To achieve these objectives and
to facilitate long-term sustainability through better urban planning and demand-led
development within DMDP area, RajUK has selected a joint venture (JV) of International
and National Consultants through international bidding procedure guided by ADB. The
members of JV partners are Saman Corporation and Han-A Urban Research Institute,
Republic of Korea, Sheltech (Pvt.) Ltd. and DevCon Ltd, Bangladesh.

Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP) 1995 – 2015 (Refer to Ful Document)
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Strategic Zoning in the DSP’ 2016-2035 (Refer to Ful Document)

Dhaka Structure Plan 2016-2036 submitted by the JV Contains 13 Chapters covering

the issues as follows with comments of the reviewer:

1. Setting the Context: Past plans were not adequately studied or analyzed to evaluate
the causes of their failures and thus formulate strategies not to repeat same blunders.
DMDP 95-2015 is considered to be quite comprehensive and pragmatic one, setting
pragmatic strategic directions and spatial development policies. It was approved in 2000
but never considered in master planning or in the detail area planning. Its non

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Qazi Azizul Mowla

implementation should have been thoroughly scrutinized and any updated (not new)
plan should have considered those as the basis. The DMAIUDP‟81 was yet another
previous plan which was shelved earlier being in conflict with the interest of institutions;
Geo-morphological context and setting is not adequately studied for a responsive plan.
The context is not set as desired professionally or by ADB.

2. Dhaka - Past and Present: Generally the „past‟ is studied to understand the trend and
to evaluate the sustaining context of development and the „present‟ is studied to
investigate why newer problems are arising and what newer things are there that is to
be taken into planning framework. It is called SWOT analysis ie what Strength to be
retained, what weaknesses are to be improved; what opportunities are to be grabbed
and what threats are to be removed. In all cases a planner is to be objective and must
think holistically considering all the strategies, policies and planning at all levels but
having bearing on the project. Present study is full of statistics without a realistic SWOT
analysis and the problems are just extended to a bigger scale.

3. Future Growth Direction: Sustainability depends on balanced development ie

„Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs‟ but in DSP 2016-2035, immediate
economic gains are identified as future growth trend and extended them without enough
feasibility study. Their future impacts were neglected.

4. Effective Land use Management for Liveable Dhaka: Historically, geographically and
economically Dhaka is a dynamic entity. Dhaka is not a virgin land and lot of diversified
issues are play to keep it dynamic, therefore existing conditions and constraints are to
be taken care of, which Patrick Geddes called „conservative surgery‟ and not
amputation or transplantation as has been proposed in the DSP. Some of the areas
need to be declared as special planning zones with separate development guidelines
for those eg Old Dhaka; wetlands, ecologically vulnerable areas etc. While housing
areas were proposed on wetlands and retention ponds were dug on highlands – how
effective Land use Management for Liveable Dhaka can be achieved by these actions?
Illegal / unauthorized interventions (popularly called developments) by both public and
private sectors are legitimized instead of reclaiming or punishing the perpetuator,
sending the wrong signal to the perpetuators that once done they can get away with
Illegal / unauthorized works. (relocation of BGB HQ from Pheelkhana; Dhaka
Cantonment; Hazaribagh Tanneries and construction of a huge urban park in
abandoned old airport was proposed both in DMDP‟95 and DSP 2016-2035 – why were
not these be implemented? or how to execute this, and the time frame in which it is to
be done is not discussed – making the whole report a theoretical exercise.)

5. Transport for Efficient Connectivity: Land use and Traffic and transportation goes
hand in hand – land use planning or traffic and transportation planning without
considering each other and that too in a piece-meal manner creates more problems
than solving them. Traffic and Transportation plans for Dhaka by other agencies are not
evaluated and integrated with the proposed one. Transport oriented developments
(ToD) reduces the propensity to travel therefore good as a concept but its application in

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an existing developed setting would require massive intervention and skill. Dhaka‟s
institutional framework, technological capability, financial capability, geo-morphological
context and social attitude is not ready for this intervention.

6. Affordable Housing for All: At one end RajUK is encouraging speculative price hike of
land in and all around Dhaka; providing site and serviced plot to the existing
landowners of Dhaka; at the other end it is advocating for acquiring more private land
and providing it for housing schemes – these approaches have already failed to solve
the housing problem. Moreover, as mentioned before, Dhaka is not a virgin land where
fresh transport oriented developments (ToD) can be proposed without massive
amputation. Existing context need to be carefully studied and causes of migration to
Dhaka (biggest cause of population explosion of Dhaka) needs to be checked – to keep
pace with the housing needs.

7. Enhancing Dhaka‟s Employment and productivity; Chapter is mostly general rhetoric

without any substance. However, Dhaka is a primate city, pulling most of the country‟s
resources. Government policy is to encourage decentralization and conceptually it is
contradictory to the general policy.

8. Public Facilities for Better Living; This Chapter is again mostly general rhetoric
without any substance and implementation guideline. Accessibility, safety, security and
management is more important in this respect.

9. Protecting Natural and Healthy Environment: When RajUK violates its own plans and
DSP 2016-2035 ratifies those than there is no hope in this jargon oriented presentation
(the Purbachal New Town Project required the filling of a portion of the Shitalakhya
River, which was a clear and blatant violation of environmental laws as well as DMDP) ;

10. Preserving Open Space for Recreation and Aesthetics: This is again a jargonized
chapter without analyzing the past failures but putting lot of statistics; previously
planned open spaces were being continuously encroached upon by their custodians
(RajUK, DN&SCC and other pourashavas; PWD; LGED, IWTA, R&H, Railways etc. etc)
but no remedial measures were taken, in the light of this, the new proposals without
strict implementable strategy and regulations are actually mere public deceptions.

11. Resilience through Disaster Prevention and Mitigation: There is no dearth of

regulations in this regards. Proper planning and its strict implementation will
automatically reduce much of the risk. Policy-UDM/1.1 calls for the preparation of
comprehensive Risk Sensitive Land Use Plan? Who will do that - DSP 2016-2035 was
supposed to do that instead, it proposes development in the flood flow zones enhancing
flooding and water logging risk; developments on geological faults by earth filling –
which would be more susceptible to liquefaction hazards – so where is the relevance of
this Chapter with the DSP. Most of the risk is inbuilt in planning- why propose vulnerable
plan and look for prevention and mitigation? This chapter is also an eye wash.

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12. Enhance the Cityscape with Urban Design and Landscape: Most amateurish
chapter – it does not have any vision for the city at various levels. City should be
visualized (three dimensionally) at planning stage for Macro to micro level attributes,
which is not done. The chapter proposes some cosmetic brush-up at micro level to give
a semblance of urban design and landscape design. The chapter does not provide any
executable strategy/policy/objective for achieving whatever sporadic suggestions it has
made;

13. Governance and Institutional Development of Dhaka: At the onset, ADB in its project
rational for financing this undertaking started with saying that … its frameworks of urban
planning and development are not capable to meet the evolving demands…, therefore
DSP should have given proper attention in developing an institutional framework
capable of delivering the product. It may be mentioned that two major actors in this
process ie RajUK and the City Corporations are under two separate ministries ie
Ministry of Works and Housing; and the Ministry of Local Governments respectively.
Development actors go laissez faire without any guideline or coordination. RajUK and
all other actors in the urban development need to be thorough about their jurisdiction
and capability and all of them must also have clear cut charter and terms of reference
(ToR) for operation within the city area. A well coordinated effort can only provide
effective result – nothing of that sort is discussed in the DSP. Perhaps the RajUk itself
does not know the role of its each development partners in Dhaka (eg. Directorate and
Department have difference in authority – in the DSP report Department of Architecture,
GoB has been repetitively mentioned as Directorate of Architecture). City Corporation
(local government) and Development agency‟s (mostly central government) role, linkage
and modus operandi should be clarified.

For a mega city like Dhaka, a city ranking near the bottom of the world‟s worst cities,
urban planning and development endeavours have become a pure reactive, costly and
corrective exercise. Every time millions of taka is spent in the preparation of plans and
then shelved. Though the report (DSP‟2016-2035) is a volumetric one and in some
cases has good data bank but the whole deliberation is too theoretical oriented and it
fails to provide any realistic vision for Dhaka.

Discussion and Recommendations

In a nut shell, most of the basic ingredients of a typical structure plan are missing in
DSP 2016-35, which was supposed to be and an update of DMDP‟95 ie. a) Failed to
assess the failures of the past structure plans of Dhaka and to take lessons from those;
b) Experts and stake holders were not consulted, let alone the general public; c) Not a
continuation of immediate past plan thus loosing the context and objectivity; d) Ignored
the setting and the context, while ratifying the past misdeeds of both private and public
sector; e) Natural systems and responsive human need were sidelined; f) National
physical development policy and planning as well as most of the other government
strategies, policies and acts having a bearing on physical development plan were
ignored; g) current symptoms of past blunders ie water logging and traffic congestions,
were not addressed at all at their roots. Current ideas about reforming the governance
regime are radical in scale, conventional in theory and limited in creativity and

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imagination. These ideas tend to focus too heavily on the governmental aspects and a
command and control approach, viewing the fastest growing megacity of the world as a
closed mechanistic construct rather than a complex adaptive system.

Recommendations:
 Set a clear vision for Dhaka‟s development and implementation strategy
(visualize what city we want at macro, intermediate and micro Level within the
existing context).
 Capacity building of RajUK is needed to manage DSP implementation efficiently.
 DSP is to be nested in national physical planning policies and strategies and also
must be compatible with other relevant national issues.
 Follow DMDP 1995-2015 as a guide line and framework to update DSP for 2016-
2035 as desired by the funding agency.
 Set strategies to rectify / recover that have gone wrong in previous plans.
 Consider Geo-morphological context (flooding, earthquake, wet land, ecology
etc) during land use adjustments.
 Consider conservation of natural and man-made heritage in the planning and
design frame work.
 Consider long term sustainability instead of short term economic gains in the
DSP.
 Consider various traffic and transportation plans by other agencies during land
use adjustments / distributions.
 Develop and consolidate peripheral municipal areas (Naryanganj, Savar, Tongi
etc) as a Dhaka‟s decentralization strategy and connect them adequately with the
central region (DNCC & DSCC) without increasing built-up areas.

Conclusion

For Dhaka, several structure plans have been launched since Patrick Geddes first
presented his ideas for the development of Dhaka in 1917. Unfortunately, none of the
past successive plans were implemented and we never tried to learn anything from our
past failures. DSP 2016-35 borrows heavily from the immediate past structure plan and
instead of improving on it, the proposed new one has deteriorated further and has
altogether discarded the DMDP‟95. As per the terms of reference (ToR) of ADB in this
project “Regional Development Planning (RDP) under City Region Development Project
(CRDP), serious scrutiny of DMDP‟95 was the DSP‟s prime task from which it was to
learn and implement future strategy and policies. By not taking into account the past
plans and staring anew from the scratches, in fact it loses its link with the past and the
context. This review argues that viewing the urban governance challenges of Dhaka
City with the complexity perspective opens the door for building capacities that can be
combined to transition the current regime from its reactive posture to one of anticipation
based on the principles of foresight, integration and engagement- will be fine. But this
review also argues that by non compliance of the main ToR of the RDP under CRDP,
the Dhaka Structure Plan‟ 2016-2035 in its present format is actually a failure and
requires gross revision.

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