In the overcrowded Dhaka city, where free space is a blessing, 19 parks and 12 playgrounds will be spruced up to give children a place to run around and adults a retreat to relax.

Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) has taken up the task as part of a Tk 1,202 crore project for development of roads, footpath, slaughterhouses, and other facilities in its area.

A total of Tk 76 crore will be spent on the parks and Tk 15 crore on the playgrounds, said officials.

Chief Engineer of DSCC Md Nurullah said they would appoint consultants to prepare designs of how the parks and playgrounds would look like after completion of the project. The consultants will take eight to nine months to finish their works, while the project is scheduled to be completed by 2018, he said.

DSCC will develop more parks, if necessary, he added.

During an investigation last year, The Daily Star found that at least 10 parks out of the 54 surviving ones in the entire Dhaka city were replaced with a community centre, a kitchen market, a mosque, a rickshaw garage or a truck parking lot, mostly by the city corporation itself, while some others were threatened.

According to experts, 93 parks are necessary in Dhaka city, one for each of the 93 wards. Before the city was split into two parts in 2011, DCC had 54 parks on its official list.

Urban expert Prof Nazrul Islam says every 10,000 city residents need an open space of four acres -- park or playground -- for healthy growth of children and prevention of diseases related to physical activities.