Tawfique Ali

The three-decade old real estate sector has predominantly been a business composed of private entrepreneurs catering to the needs of the urban upper middle class, not concerning itself with the low income groups. Public sector initiatives have been limited to the development of some townships and residential colonies mostly concentrated in the capital. As a result, equitable housing opportunities remain a far cry for most urban-dwellers.

Once built, the 8.70km Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover is set to become a permanent woe for Dhaka, with leading experts describing the Tk 1,219 crore structure as a massive block in the heart of the city. Around a year into the construction work in early 2014, it was detected by sheer chance that the much-hyped flyover was being built on a grossly faulty layout configuration without vital right-turn provisions and had a number of other flaws with serious consequences.

A nine-kilometre river embankment and three under-construction water regulators would save thousands of inhabitants of the coastal town of Mongla from recurrent tidal surge by the end of this year, said the local mayor and officials concerned.

With the risk of a major earthquake to cause colossal devastation any time, Bangladesh still lacks elementary awareness with preparedness lying in a deplorable state, according to eminent seismic experts.

Half of 1.5 million Khulna city dwellers are eyeing an end to their chronic water crisis as an ambitious scheme to supply 110 million

Authorities are still going ahead with fencing the plazas and sprawling lawns of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban on “security grounds”, despite professionals' criticism that it would only undermine the parliament building's architectural grandeur. Security experts want a concrete wall and iron bars on top of it saying it was necessary to stop any approaching vehicles breaching the security, according to various sources.

Seventy-year-old Elahi Nawaz with a broken thighbone was lucky to get some 'room' for admission in a filthy abandoned space at the country's biggest public hospital attached to Dhaka Medical College.

The last remaining canals in the capital are being choked to death with the authorities doing little to nothing to save them, making the city vulnerable to waterlogging even after a moderate rain.

The city dwellers will have to face a severe water and drainage crisis in near future unless the wholesale destruction of floodplains and wetlands ceases immediately, experts have warned.

A ward councillor has been collecting money from businesses and residents in the capital's Arambagh, Fakirapool and adjacent areas

It was a traffic nightmare around Bashundhara City shopping mall in the capital yesterday.

Rajuk was well aware of inadequate on site safety measures at least three and a half months before the National Bank (NBL) foundation pit collapse, but it failed to act.

The High Court has stayed for six months the transfer and stand-release of Ashiqur Rahman, project director (PD) of Mayor Mohammad Hanif Flyover.

Life in Dhaka city virtually comes to a standstill every time there is a monsoon rain. Many areas go under water due to scanty storm drainage system and the indiscriminate filling up of water retention areas by private and government entities over the years.

The middle class will find it a little less difficult to buy flats of up to 1,100 square feet, as the government in the new budget has

Unplanned urban development and housing settlement on filled up marshland and low-lying flood flow zones have made the capital highly vulnerable to earthquake hazards, said leading seismic experts.

A city corporation cannot deliver desired services without freeing itself from government influence, checking internal corruption and ensuring proper coordination with other agencies, said leading local government and urban experts.

Many of the pledges the mayoral aspirants are making in their manifestos for the April 28 city corporation elections are beyond the legal and financial mandates of a mayor, say leading local government and urban experts.

Natural sources of fresh water, especially rivers, are becoming highly contaminated with industrial effluents and human waste, causing

With soil examination ongoing, construction of much talked about metro rail in the capital is now set to commence by the first quarter of 2017, said project director.