Public Facilities in Public and Private Housing Projects in Dhaka, Bangladesh: Fid-Bau Portal

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

Alam, Md. Jahangir / Ahmad, Mokbul Morshed

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.