Commercial Hub in Kamrangirchar
Development by evicting 20 lakh people?
Threat of eviction looms over 20 lakh residents of Kamrangirchar in the capital, as Dhaka South City Corporation has decided to build a commercial hub on 1,200 acres of land in the area.
However, residents said Kamrangirchar is under the "Detailed Area Plan (DAP)" and making a commercial hub there would not only be illegal but also undermine the purpose of the DAP, vowing to go for tougher movement if the city corporation goes for eviction from their homes.
DSCC is planning to build a business district, titled "Central Business District (CBD) Development Project," similar to Shanghai or Dubai, in Kamrangirchar, spending US $1 billion.
They plan to attract global business tycoons through this project.
As per the draft plan, a 50-storey high-rise convention centre, condominiums, high-end office buildings, auditoriums, a heritage museum, rooftop cafes and restaurants, an art gallery, green walkways, cycle lanes and stands, water taxi jetty, a water garden, an old Dhaka Museum, a drama theatre, and an amphitheatre will be established.
If DSCC wants to plan any mega project in the area, it needs to discuss it with the area's 20 lakh residents first. It cannot make any development excluding the people of Kamrangirchar.
After being informed about the mega project, residents of the area have been spending days in fear of eviction and holding different types of protest programmes to attract the attention of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina so that they are not evicted from their homes.
They held a roundtable titled "Unnecessary Development in DAP-Kamrangirchar and Thoughts of People," organised under the banner of "Kamrangichar Nagorik Parishad," at the capital's Jatiya Press Club yesterday.
Swadhinata and Ekushey Padak-winning poet Nirmalendu Goon, who has been living in the area for the last 15 years, was supposed to be present at the programme, but he could not join physically due to his illness.
In a pre-recorded video statement, he termed it a "dragon" project and said if DSCC wants to plan any mega project in the area, it needs to discuss it with the area's 20 lakh residents first.
"It cannot make any development excluding the people of Kamrangirchar," said Nirmalendu Goon, also president of Kamrangirchar Nagorik Parishad.
He also questioned if DSCC has any authority to implement such a project.
Speaking at the roundtable, Hasan Ahmed, coordinator of Kamrangirchar Nagorik Parishad, said, "Only Rajuk can initiate any project here. Kamrangirchar is mainly a mixed residential area in DAP. DSCC cannot set up a commercial hub in the area. It contradicts the Detailed Area Plan for Kamrangirchar; the project itself undermines the DAP's purpose."
Talking to The Daily Star, physician Sirajul Islam, a resident of the area, said, "I have been living here for the last 60 years. My grandparents have been living here for the past 400 years. Now the city corporation says it would make this place a business hub, evicting us from our homestead."
"Where will we go if the city corporation evicts us from our birthplace?" he asked.
Another resident, Shah Alam, said the area houses at least 50,000 small and medium industries, which provide livelihoods of several lakh people.
"Where would those people go? How will their employment be arranged?" he asked, demanding the city corporation set up the project anywhere other than Kamrangirchar.
Mehedi Ahsan, general secretary of the Bangladesh Institute of Planners, said planning any development project should involve a prior assessment of suitability for the specific structures.
"Additionally, we cannot evict anyone from their homes for a development project without properly resettling the people as per their demand," he said.
DSCC Chief Town Planner, Md Sirajul Islam, could not be contacted over the phone despite repeated phone calls and a text message.