BCC fails to implement master plan in 7 years
Murad Ahmed, Barisal
Lack of coordination between the Barisal City Corporation (BCC) and the Urban Development Directorate (UDD) has led to a gross violation of a master plan drawn up for the citys development.
The plan, approved by the housing and public works ministry in 2010, had been prepared at a cost of Tk. 2.5 crore for the citys beautification and sustainable development while saving agriculture land and waterbodies. The ministry had set up the Barisal Urban Development Directorate (UDD) in 2015 to ensure the implementation of the master plan with eight members. But UDD officials are said to be spending their time with little work to do.
Md Asaduzaman, a senior UDD planner, said: The Tk 2.5-crore master plan was prepared for the benefit of the citys inhabitants. After the plans approval by the ministry concerned, we handed it over that to the BCC authorities and held several training programmes. But the BCC has refused to heed our advice and chosen to ignore the plan. As a result, the development of the city is becoming hazardous.
According sources in the Barisal UDD office, 18,670 hectares of land lie under the city corporations jurisdiction with 47,000 houses, buildings and other forms of structures erected on them already.
As per the master plan, the civic authorities cannot sanction any construction on 10,000 hectaresa safeguard introduced to protect agricultural land and waterbodies. Md Asaduzaman said the BCC was still approving construction work without consulting the UDD in violation of the master plan. He said 25 per cent of the agricultural land and waterbodies had been lost in the past seven years with buildings and other structures being erected by the local people. This correspondent saw many newly built houses and many more under construction between Nabagram Road and Ruiarpol during a visit to the area on March 22, although the master plan forbids any construction on this stretch.
Khayrul Ahsan Shahid, who has built a five-storied house here, said that the BCC had sanctioned the building plan.
Another local resident, Anisur Rahman, said he had no knowledge of the master plan and the existence of the UDD.
Md Nurul Islam, the local councillor, said the UDD did not consult them during the preparation of the master plan, but it collaborated with some NGOs. He also claimed that the plan had been modelled on parameters followed in developed countries and not our society.
Md Motaled, a BCC superintendent engineer, said it was difficult to fully comply with the plan as its stipulations affected a large number of people. He, however, said a revision of the plan would make its implementation easier.
Md Wahiduzaman, chief executive officer of the BCC, conceded the shortcomings, acknowledging gaps in coordination between the BCC and the UDD.
Dr Habibur Rahman, president of the Manobadhikar Jot (Barisal district unit), said the BCC was bound to follow the master plan in its developmental work, including the sanctioning of building plans. He also said financial benefits were involved in the sanctioning of construction of buildings that encouraged officials to ignore the UDD and the master plan.
According BCC sources, over 12 lakh people lived in the 383 sq km Barisal metropolitan area. They said there were over 47,000 residential and non-residential buildings in the city, about 3,000 of them being highrise structures. About 550 were over five- to nine-storied buildings, while 117 were four-storied, 1,158 three-storied, 3,767 two-stroried and 6,357 single-storied houses. In addition, there were 12,752 semi-terraced houses, 20,191 tin-shed houses and 159 government infrastructures. The sources also said that with the number of establishments increasing daily, waterbodies and agricultural land were on the decline with the master plan being ignored.
