Hope in urban despair

Agrabad Debha. PHOTO: Zobaer Hossain Sikder

The panoramic city, with the bay 15 kilometers away from its centre, and the mighty river Karnaphuli crisscrossing it from north to the south, and not much activity on the peripheral lands, the magnificent landscape of Chittagong offers unlimited scopes for all -- be it industrialists, promoters of tourism, anglers, town planners, engineers and environmentalists --- all still have vast choices of investment.

But is Chittagong on course for healthy growth?

The Daily Star team contacted Zarina Hossain, a leading urban planner and an outspoken activist for the healthy development of this metropolis. Zarina is also an active member of the Forum for Planned Chittagong, a platform for urban planners, architects, engineers, journalists and environmentalists who meet at least once a week to discuss and chalk out action plans for the growing port city.

Zarina was instantly vocal, pointing out some of the unplanned activities of the city developers, which, she said 'could have been so much different with little a thinking and professional planning'.

"It is just time we start talking about Chittagong before it is too late. We have learnt from Dhaka experience and we should ensure that the same mistakes are not committed here," said Zarina.

The Daily Star team invited Zarina for a ride in the city to explore its prospects and lackings in terms of future development and present scenario.

Heritage
On Monday at 9:30am we set out from the Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) building and as soon as we took the main road, Zarina pointed her finger at two century-old buildings - Kabiraz Building and Star Boarding, opposite GPO. Both the structures stood up among many modern buildings on the road and looked gorgeous with their railings and facades.

There are many such ancient buildings in the port city that need to be conserved as heritage, she said.

Conservation is urgently required as the dilapidated buildings also might cause casualty of life and property during natural disaster at any time, she pointed out.

Railway's onslaught with CNG stations
Entering Station Road brought the shock of the day. A CNG station has been built recently on the middle of the road.

The Bangladesh Railway (BR), one of the biggest landowners in Chittagong city after the Port Authority and the Military Engineering Services, has embarked on leasing out plot after plot to individuals, regardless of the strategic value of the land as prescribed by the master plan.

The CNG station belonging to Four-Star Syndicate has been constructed on railway land, visibly on the road at the entry point of Boiler Avenue at Kadamtali intersection, blocking panoramic view of rows of century-old trees.

"Railway has not bothered to ask the CDA about the master plan before handing over the road for such a business. If it continues policy like this, Chittagong will face a disaster because Railway owns most of the prime lands here," Zarina said.

The greenery that adorn the hills behind the CNG station are defined as a special natural zone in the Chittagong Master Plan, which has to be preserved.

Within 100 yards another piece of railway land remains enclosed with corrugated tin sheets at the bend in front of Railway Public School at Polo-ground. The under-construction CNG station is set up on top of an age-old natural drainage system, where the leaseholder has built a box culvert apparently trying to keep the drainage open.

Just on the right hand side of it, Railway has leased out yet another plot for another CNG station to one Farhana Rumni of Izmir International Private Limited.

Only half a kilometre to the west of these two stations, at Tiger Pass intersection, Railway leased out three more plots for CNG stations. Now the question is how many CNG stations do the people of Chittagong need within a stretch of one kilometre?

Magnificent CRB
The British-made Central Railway Building (CRB) stands on the hilltop gorgeously overlooking the city. Neatly maintained, the building boldly represents the rich heritage of railway in this region. All around, pristine hills covered with old rain trees and bushes give the impression of being in a different world altogether.

"I am glad that these hills have not been the targeted for development. With their natural set ups, the whole area needs to be slightly touched by a landscape designer and properly maintained to make it a natural resort for the city dwellers to visit," Zarina said.

The magnificent CRB hills have not been totally untouched by mindless development. Only the other day where children frolicked on a small open space, authorities have planted hundreds of trees hardly three feet away from one another to make the space even inaccessible to grazing animals.

"Our city planning haplessly lacks aspects of water and fountains. Unless you have these components in an area like this, the landscape does not give variation to the mind of visitors," she said.

We took the road by CRB Mosque before leading to a panoramic view of hills to the west. The road wound its way to reach three hilltop bungalows used by some railway officials.

Standing on the courtyards of a bungalow overlooking the southern part of the city, Zarina said "If landscape planners are given the opportunity, this area could be aesthetically much richer." However, to the dismay of nature loving people of the town, the area has been declared restricted, where no outsider is allowed to tread.

Jilapi Pahar
We set out for another such tranquil natural spot only a few yards to the west off the Railway estate. The place amid greenery and hill sits on the northwest of Lalkhan Bazar Ispahani intersection. It is a part of Batali Hill and is popularly known as "Jilapi Pahar" for its winding road.

At the end of the small landing on the hilltop the northern horizon of the city could be seen. A strange crescent shape platform of tiles has been built there. Its design suggests almost nothing to visitors other than a guess that it is a futile effort to make it look like an amphitheatre.

Just next to the tiled platform a signboard reads, "Shatayu Aungan, Batali Hill, Chittagong, Established in 1975 by Ajjad Ali". Nobody knows who gave Ajjad Ali the right to establish such an organisation on top of a hill that should belong to the people of Chittagong.

The Public Works Department reserved the whole site for the use of some government officials, making it off-limits to the public recently. Few naturally rich places like CRB and Jilapi Pahar must be conserved as specialised natural zone allowing everyone's access. People from all walks of life should be allowed to come here where interaction among the people of all classes in the society could take place, said the architect.

War Cemetery
Our next destination is Chittagong war cemetery which perfectly resembles the open space, a town planner dreams of. The cemetery, where the bodies of 755 warriors of the Second World War (1939-1945) are laid to rest, has been turned into a lush, green clean park to draw visitors from home and abroad. Enveloped by flowering shrubs, the cemetery is located on a hilly site of seven acres of land near Chittagong Art College just overlooking the Finlay hills.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission spends about Tk 70,000 per month for its maintenance. Thronging with hundreds of visitors to the cemetery indicates how badly the port city lacks public parks for relaxation.

CDA Avenue
Next, we were driving along CDA Avenue -- the main thoroughfare of the port city, where thousands of billboards and hoardings bluntly obscure every landscape.

Slow moving rickshaws occupying most of the roads, haphazardly parked vehicles and buses dropping and taking passengers anywhere anytime, make a mockery of the city governance.

High-rise commercial buildings constructed without sufficient parking lots add salt to Zarina's irritation.

As we drive through Zakir Hossain Road and GEC intersection areas of Nasirabad, Shaheed Abdul Halim Sarak, Mehedibag Road, OR Nizam Road, Probartak Intersection, she points at several multi-story buildings on both sides of the road in gross violation of Building Construction (BC) rules.

The access ramps of these buildings not only overlapped the footpaths but also came down on the main roads. In some places the owners tiled the footpaths in front of their buildings just to grab those along with a portion of the main road. They also engage private security guards to prevent rickshaws or other public vehicles from parking at those areas even for a few minutes. It is as if the footpath and the part of the road belong to the person who 'most kindly built a market or an office bloc there'.

Zarina emphasises inclusion of Floor Area Ration (Far) in the BC rule to check this gross malpractice. While passing through the Chawk Bazar and the GEC intersections, she expresses concern over pedestrians' plight to walk on the footpaths or cross the road.

The narrow footpaths in front of multi-story buildings hardly allow two passers-by to walk side by side. It forces the pedestrians to use the main road, which remains jammed by either rickshaws or other vehicles. Vehicles at the signals block the zebra crossing and force the pedestrians to cross the road in hassle and at a great risk of life.

Residential areas
Our next destination is Nasirabad Housing Society and Sugandha Residential Areas, two of the most popular residential areas in the city.

All the buildings are knitted together without any sign of green or open space. Almost invariably every house owner has the access ramp descending on the narrow street where there seems no provision for pedestrians.

"Concrete Jungles!" is the word our host Zarina used slowly but quite firmly for us to grasp.

Agrabad, the commercial hub
An under-construction 16-storey building at the major intersection of Agrabad Badamtali area became the focal point of the town planner.

The owner of the building has converted the footpath into a car park, leaving an access to its limited basement car park at the bend of the intersection. "I am really worried how much chaos such a commercial building will cause to the area when it starts functioning." It is not for the sake of one individual that the entire community should suffer, she said.

From some of the most disturbing urban experiences we arrive at the Agrabad Debha, a large water reservoir in the middle of this commercial area. It is a real respite for us to find such a water body in the city.

The pond belongs to the railway and the planner is quick to imagine a walkway around it with flowerbeds and benches for the tired executives and visitors. This could make a unique feature in the commercial area of the city, she points out.

It is nearly two in the afternoon. Dozens of men and children bathe in the Debha. Some restaurant workers fill up large jerry cans with water from the pond, they say it is for lesser purposes of the eatery. The early afternoon breeze generates tiny waves in the greenish water.

It is time we part for our office. Our minds however are unable to reach a conclusion about Chittagong. What we saw through the eyes of a professional did not elate us. Neither were we in total despair. For this metropolis the period is the beginning of an age of development.

Clearly it is a matter of how soon our policymakers firmly start believing in aesthetic values in urban living conditions. And there is still hope for Chittagong, perhaps.