Public Facilities in Public and Private Housing Projects in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract

Cities in developing countries are confronted with two conflicting problems. On the one hand, there is always an increasing demand for urban services and, on the other hand, the public sector responds poorly to the growing demand for such services. This articleexplores and compares the status of physical and environmental infrastructure and services provided in public and privately developed land and housing projects in Greater Dhaka, Bangladesh. The study made use of primary data gathered from April to June 2008. The findings indicate that although some households and developers are aware of the planning regulations which mandate infrastructure and services, this does not necessarily translate into compliance, particularly in privately developed housing projects. As a result, projects are usually developed with inadequate and unsatisfactory facilities. The analysis revealed that most physical and environmental infrastructure and services are either missing or unsatisfactory. These include narrow roads inconsistent with standard widths, little open space for social activities, few areas for childrens' playgrounds and poor waste management. The factors that explain the relatively low levels of physical environmental conditions in privately developed projects include an absence of inter-agency coordination, corruption, a lack of good governance, and political interference, along with disregard and apathy on the part of developers and buyers towards planning regulations. In the light of these findings, this article proposes stronger enforcement of planning regulations and more consistent monitoring by planning agencies to achieve better planned residential areas in Dhaka.

发展中国家的城市面临着两个相互矛盾的问题。一方面，城市服务的需求 在不断增加，而另一方面，公共部门没有对这些需求做出应有的回应。本 文利用 2008 年 4 月至 6 月间采集的第一手数据，探讨并比较孟加拉达卡大区公共与私人开发的土地和住房项目中的物理和环境基础设施及服务。研究结果表明，尽管部分家庭和开发商知晓规划规定中要求配备基础设施和服务，但并不一定实际遵守，私人开发的住宅项目遵守规定的情况更差。因此很多项目的设施在数量和质量上都达不到标准。分析发现大多数物理或环境基础设施和服务阙如，或不达标。例如道路过窄，社会活动空间过小，儿童游乐场地不够，垃圾管理不达标，等等。而造成私人开发项目中物理环境条件不达标的原因，包括主体间缺乏协调、腐败、缺乏良好治理、政治干预，也包括开发商和买主对于规划规定漠不关心。鉴于此，本文提出应加强规划规定的实施，并由规划主体实行持续的监督，以改善达卡的居住环境。

Keywords:

• Bangladesh
• Dhaka
• housing projects
• physical and environmental infrastructure
• services

Acknowledgements

This study was a part of the doctoral research conducted at RRDP, AIT in Thailand with financial support from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh and AIT. The author therefore gratefully acknowledges such financial support. The author is grateful to Professor A. T. M. Nurul Amin for his valuable insights and sincerely acknowledges the contribution of Anna Nagelbach for English editing of the article. The comments of two anonymous reviewers are also gratefully acknowledged. The author is also thankful to RAJUK, NHA, REHAB and BLDA for providing their information for this study.

Notes

1. Land and housing development projects in Dhaka refer to land development activities undertaken by public and private sectors where the public sector receives land by acquisition while private developers purchase and develop a bulk of such land and subdivide as plots then obtain the approval from the Capital Development Authority (RAJUK) for plot selling. Thus, it is expected that any planned residential development should be carried out with adequate social, physical and environmental infrastructure.

2. RAJUK (Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakkha or Capital Development Authority) is a regional planning agency of Bangladesh responsible for the development and control of 1528 km² of the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP) area, popularly known as Greater Dhaka (Islam, 2005).

3. As population centres grow they tend to modify a greater and greater area of land and have a corresponding increase in average temperature. The lesser-used term heat island refers to any area, populated or not, which is consistently hotter than the surrounding area (Glossary of Meteorology, 2009).

4. There are six city corporations in Bangladesh located at the divisional cities, namely: Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet and Barisal.

5. Self-employed persons working on behalf of an applicant, for getting planning permits from the illegal framework of RAJUK.

6. Taka is a Bangladeshi currency: US$1 Dollar = 69 Taka.