Land and housing development projects and ensuing externalities in the built-environment: a study in Dhaka, Bangladesh | |
| Author | Alam, Md. Jahangir |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.RD-11-01 |
| Subject(s) | Real estate development--Bangladesh--Dhaka Housing--Bangladesh--Dhaka |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Regional and Rural Development Planning |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Land and housing development projects are seen as planned residential housing in the urban environment. Rapid population growth and increasing economic activities have created huge pressure on urban land. But, land supply in the megacity Dhaka is highly limited because of its geographical location surrounded by eight rivers, lowlands/wetlands, canals and lakes, and above all, low elevation of Greater Dhaka. This limited land can not meet the increasing demand for housing for a rapidly increasing population. The situation raised land speculation among buyers as well as private developers. The condition has also encouraged a nascent land development housing companies. All these pressures lead to unplanned sprawl by land and housing development projects, contravening Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan 1995-2015. State and concerned institutions have failed to regulate the booming land market resulting in unplanned urban expansion. This deviation is linked with unplanned urban expansion by unplanned land and housing development projects. This development, on one hand leads to a faster decrease of natural resources of restricted areas of flood zones, prime agricultural land, water bodies and lakes and retention ponds. On the other hand the planned residential land and housing projects also severely lacks in social, physical and environmental infrastructures of open space, playground, waste management, roads & drainage, flooding and water logging. As a result, the urban environment of Dhaka is gradually approaching towards the natural hazards of flooding, water logging and earthquake vulnerability due to unauthorized encroachment of wetlands/lowlands and natural drainage channels with massive land filling. Besides, according to a survey among 195 plot buyers, project residents are increasingly deprived community and environmental facilities. Another primary questionnaire survey among 117 affected people showed the housing development projects also brought negative externalities among the affected people of neighboring areas. It was found that forced land grabbing is the main strategy of private developers’ housing project development. Consequently traditional self-sufficient village communities turn into urban neighborhoods. The findings of the research elaborately presented the current trend of urban expansion and the factors responsible for rapid land use change. The study has assessed the land use changes and the dynamics of urban expansion by land and housing development projects using GPS data. Greater Dhaka was found to have experienced rapid changes in land use; analysis revealed that the substantial reduction of restricted areas occurred during 1996-2005. Lack of set rules of fill depth and no requirement for infilling permission lead to a faster decrease of natural resources. Moreover, flood vulnerability, sky-rocketing land prices, traffic generation along the highways, additional runoff generation and deviation of RAJUK standard for community facilities is the negative outcome of land and housing development projects. On the other hand mounting growth of land and housing development projects since 1980s have generated developers’ irregularities along with policy deviations in Dhaka resulting in vast amounts of land turned to land locked, huge investments blocked and millions of workers are jobless in DMDP area. The study finds that untimely promulgation of laws namely ‘The Natural Water Body, Open Space, Park/Play Ground Preservation Rule 2000,’ ‘Private Housing Project Land Development Rules 2004’ (PHPLD Rules 2004) and ‘Real Estate Development and Management Ordinance, 2008’ (REDM Ordinance 2008) are largely responsible for the present crisis. The study also suggests that an independent assessment agency could minimize the risks of the buyers and irregularities of developers through disseminating information among the respective agencies and persons. Since demand for housing is still on the rise and government is not responding on par in the supply side, promulgation of extreme laws may harm the general buyers. Large investments are already made in this sector and nearly two hundred thousand buyers are trapped. Recently, plot and flat development and registration was almost stopped in the real estate sector so that necessary amendments may be made to the relevant laws with appropriate suggestions from planners, architects, environmentalists and researchers to bring order to the land market as well as to protect the environmentally critical areas. |
| Year | 2011 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Rural Development, Gender and Resources (RD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Ahmad, Mokbul Morshed;Sajor, Edsel E. |
| Examination Committee(s) | Routray, Jayant Kumar;Keivani, Ramin; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | University of Dhaka, Bangladesh;Asian Institute of Technology Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2011 |