Population density and height zoning provisions would be incorporated in the upcoming revised detailed area plan (DAP) of Dhaka city for a healthy urban life, said the project director of DAP at a seminar in the capital yesterday.

The seminar on a planned development through population density zoning, in 1,624 square kilometres of area under Dhaka's master plan, was jointly organised by Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) and Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP) at BIP auditorium.  

Leading urban planners present at the programme said an urban planning will not succeed in ensuring a healthy development for humane and civic amenities for residents unless the ideal population density in each acre or hectare of land is maintained.

Ashraful Islam, the DAP project director, said countries in the developed world ensure ideal population density through legal restrictions in their cities as uneven population density and overcrowding create disproportionate demands on existing civic and utility services, resulting in poor liveability in a city.

Referring to disproportionate population density in Dhaka, he said there are 224 inhabitants, on an average, in one acre of land in the city. In Gandaria, 1,111 people live in each acre of land while the number is 71 in Gulshan. 

Presenting the keynote speech, Prof Adil Mohammed Khan, secretary general of BIP, said in order to ensure a healthy and humane civic life with a functional urban neighbourhood, 120 to 200 inhabitants could live in one acre of Dhaka city. Ideal density is calculated considering various aspects areas in a city neighbourhood including areas with open air, open spaces, playgrounds, parks, drainage facilities, roads, environment, dwelling units, heights of buildings and features ensuring social interaction.

Around 70 percent areas of the city wards in Dhaka are populated nine times higher than their ideal capacity and about 80 percent areas under the Dhaka master plan are unplanned, he added.

Khondker Neaz Rahman, team leader of the consultant revising the DAP, said the objectives of an urban plan falter when the authorities of the government either downplay or ignore the recommendations made in the plan by professionals.

According to the interim report on DAP revision, based on data from Rajuk, approximately 96 percent structures are built without approval every year in Dhaka city. Around 90,000 structures are built in the area each year and Rajuk provides only 3,750 approvals each year on an average.  

Addressing the programme as the chief guest, Rajuk Chairman Abdur Rahman said around 80 percent of structures are built without Rajuk approval.

The floor area ratio (FAR) provision, allowing height benefits in exchange for designated open land spaces in a structure, has been proven ineffective since the building owners took advantage of the height extension without allocating the required open land spaces in their buildings.

BIP President Prof Abul Kalam Azad, architect Mubasshar Hussain and Member Secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon architect Iqbal Habib also spoke, among others, at the discussion moderated by Prof Akter Mahmud, vice president of BIP.