Rajuk designing new Dhaka master plan
Rajdhani Unnyan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) is set to frame a new 20-year master plan for the capital, its chief said at a workshop yesterday.
The organisation has already started designing the structural plan and the detailed area plan, two parts of a master plan, as the present master plan period expires in 2015, said M Nurul Huda, chairman of Rajuk.
The structural plan is being prepared with Asian Development Bank (ADB) finance, he told the workshop on the draft report of a study, "Strengthening Regional Planning and Governance (SRPG)", conducted by ADB.
Huda said they wanted the new plan ready for implementation from 2016.
Rajuk and ADB country office jointly organised the workshop at the capital's Ruposhi Bangla Hotel.
Rajuk is also going to set up four local offices with one each in Savar, Gazipur, Keraniganj and Narayanganj in addition to existing four within the capital to deliver speedy services at local levels.
With the new 1980-member workforce approved for Rajuk, the local offices will be independent to deliver day-to-day services except for major projects.
Abdul Mannan Khan, state minister for housing and public works, however, said urban plan and development in Dhaka city were fragmented and uncoordinated, as around half of a hundred government agencies were involved with them, and they did not always comply with the master plan.
JR Wood, team leader of SRPG study, suggested institutional strengthening and empowerment of Rajuk and updating of relevant laws for planned development in the capital, where the problems must be addressed now.
Dhaka city was blessed with abundant wetlands around it until the seventies but those are disappearing fast with unplanned development, which also resulted in ground water depletion and frequent urban flooding, said Swapan Kumar Sarkar, additional secretary to Local Government Division.
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