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RAJUK (Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha) is a statutory body entrusted with the responsibility of initiating and implementing urban development plans through planning. It is the regulatory authority expected to guard against illegal structural developments that would disrupt the environment and habitat of the sprawling metropolis. Its precursor was the Dhaka Improvement Trust (DIT) which is replaced in 1987. DIT was founded in 1956 under the Town Improvement Act 1953 with the special objective of undertaking development programs for Dhaka and Narayanganj and for some other areas in the vicinity of the two towns. A 13 member board of trustees forms the apex of the DIT administrative structure with a chairman at the top. The development challenge posed by the rapid urbanization of Dhaka and its environs in the 1970s and `80s necessitated amendment to the administrative and legal structure of DIT. The outcome was the own Improvement (amendment) Act 1987 through which DIT was transformed into Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK).
Background of RAJUK:
In 1947, when India was partitioned, Dhaka became the seat of the provincial government of East Pakistan. The population increased from 0.28 million in 1951 to around 1.2 million in 1971. As the Capital of Bangladesh, which emerged as an independent country after the War of Liberation in 1971, Dhaka has now become one of the fasted growing cities in the world and its population is likely to exceed 10 million by this time. Although efforts have been made in the past to plan the growth of the City from a district town to one of the largest cities in the world, most have been unsuccessful. As a result, the living conditions have deteriorated very rapidly and the social as well as physical infrastructure are on the verge of collapse. Immediate actions are necessary to bring some discipline to the future growth of the city.
Chairman
Member (planning)
Member (Development)
Chief Engineer
Member (Finance)
Member (Estates)
Director (estates)
Secretary
Director (Land)
Director (Town Planning) Director (plan Preparatio n) Director (Dev. Control) Director (Finance) Director (audit)
Design includes: 1. Conceptual Design 2. Selection of Materials 3. Design and Construction Code and Standards 4. Analysis of Dimensions and their Verification 5. Detailed Drawings 6. Detailed Qualities and Estimate of Materials. 7. Development Control 3. Development Control: i) The Town Improvement Act 1953: City area is changing continuously through development activities by different actors like government agencies, private developers, individuals and others. Planned urban growth is mainly based on the development control measures. Land use control in urban areas of Bangladesh is initiated with the adoption of the Town Improvement Act 1953. ii) The East Bengal Building Construction Act 1952: The East Bengal Building Construction Act, 1952, (amended 1987) is also considered a legal document for development control. Rules, regulations and ordinances of the City Authorities are also being exercised for this purpose. Every construction requires permission as per provision of `The East Bengal Building Construction Act 1952 (amended 1987) (EBBC Act 1952)'. The developing agencies are empowered for planning permission and approval of building plans and prevent illegal constructions in the metropolitan areas. iii) Land Use Planning Rules: Statutory rules control land use according to planning standards. It is based on land use policies including local plans, such as control of residential density, road standard, maintenance providing of infrastructure and services. The acts and the master plans of the cities are the principal legal instruments, which force and exercise planning control and standards. The land use of metropolitan Dhaka ought to follow the provision of the City Master Plan. Housing, commercial and industrial project buildings need planning permission,
which are generally practiced. It must be in conformity with the land use provision of the Master Plan. iv) Building Construction Rules: According to the East Bengal Building Construction Act-1952 (amended 1987)', each and every building within the designated areas of City `Master Plan needs approval from the City Development Agencies. As per Acts, the definition of building is: `Building includes a house, hut, wall and any other structure where of masonry bricks, corrugated iron sheet, metal tires wood, bamboo, mud, leaves, grass, thatch or any other materials whatsoever'. The Act has empowered to initiate building rules under section 18, EBSC Act 1952 which has been updated, based on public interest, regularly since 1954, (in 1984, and in 1996). It has been formulated through the Government of Bangladesh exercising the power of the Act. v) Authorized Sections and Building Construction (BC) Committees: RAJUK has a Development Control Section (Authorized Section). Previously this section was comprised with two Authorized Officers, two Assistant Authorized Officers, four Chief Building Inspectors, 50 Building Inspectors and other staff. Now the number of Authorized Section increased in four (4) instead of two (2) by increasing the staff members and demarking the areas specified under control of each authorized jurisdiction. These sections are supported by the four Building Construction (BC) Committees headed by the Members (Planning and Development) for approval of the building plans and exercising the powers of the Act for planned growth of the city. Other Functions: 1. RAJUK as a prime Planning Authority represents Bangladesh as well as Dhaka City in various National and International Seminars, Symposiums and Workshops held in home and in abroad. 2. RAJUK tries to incorporate and share the ideas and concepts related to planning and development adopted or practiced in different part of the World. 3. RAJUK participates in various training programs to improve the organizational capabilities. RAJUK is an active member of CITYNET, SAARC-SHELTERNET and HABITAT-II.
4. RAJUK organize Seminars and Workshops on different urban issues in regular basis, the seminar on World Habitat Day is an example.
Problems of RAJUK:
Problems in practicing power, plans and limitations of Acts: 1. Due to non-applications of powers and lack in enforcement of building constructions rules and regulations. Negligence in duties, intention to forgo some specific cases, poor inspection and reporting and political influence made Authorized Section of RAJUK a fearsome part of the organization. 2. Misuse of power and Act also shown by the Authority as claimed by the clients create unnecessary harassment and delay. 3. The provisions of Act clearly defined that the plans should be forwarded for clearance or approval within 45 days and if, any objection made in the plan must be notified within 30 days after submission for approval. In fact the process sometimes take more time as specified in the Act and in many cases it takes years to get the approval. 4. Today vast areas of the city have no detailed plans and informal development and unauthorized construction occur due to lack of plans. RAJUK has not been able to generate local interest or activity for community participation in planning. 5. One of the major components of the Master Plan "Institutional Strengthening of RAJUK," has not been considered by the concerned ministry or by RAJUK. It is felt by many that RAJUK needs a big number of planners of planning for a mega city of approximately ten million inhabitants. 6. By 2005 RAJUK should have completed all the detailed area plans and started their implementation at the local level but till now people are not sill aware of the DAP and its contents. Problems faced and created by People, clients or developers: 1. In case of some critical issues, clients or developers some how manage the authority for land use clearances for particular areas where development is restricted for specific purpose.
2. 3.
Peoples claimed that the files/plans are not approved properly and sites are not inspected as per given parameters. The unnecessary harassment or time killing or missing of specific files or put objections on files are most common practice dealing the Authorized Sections. The overall performance of this section is not up to the mark as mentioned by the clients.
4.
In some cases the process of plan or building construction approval or clearance delayed due to some undefined circumstances and caused peoples to take alternative solutions.
Problems identified by various Commissions, Committees, Reports and Comments: 1. According to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) report of July 2011, RAJUK officials are using power to get illegal advantages and approved the construction of the buildings. 2. According to priyodesk's blog on Friday, 16 November 2012, RAJUK has violated its own land use policy by allotting land earmarked in the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) as open space to Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association to set up a university. 3. According to the comment of RAJUK present chairman Nurul Huda, the city authority does not deal with big issues, pointing out that the inter-ministerial committee was formed to deal with big matters though RAJUK is the capital development authority. 4. 5. Responding to public criticism that RAJUK is driving out only the poor homeless from the lake area while sparing the influential grabbers. RAJUK is an autonomous body with full authority to implement the Detailed Area Plan (DAP). But the RAJUK chairman himself agrees that RAJUK alone cannot implement the DAP. 6. The Subcommittee of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Housing and Public Works Ministry has detected that some organizations are using the plots in commercial purpose violating the rules and regulations of RAJUK.
the overall performance of Authorized Section of RAJUK should be up to the mark. 4. Priority should be given in sectoral plans and the preparation of integrated development plans and building construction approval should be moderated so the people need not to take any alternative solution. Other Recommendations: 1. RAJUK officials must be honest in using power and they should be supervised properly so that they will not be able to get any illegal advantages. 2. RAJUK must implement the Detailed Area Plans (DAP) as quickly as possible without violating its own land and policy. If this plan will implement properly, the effectiveness of RAJUK will be increased. 3. The city authority of RAJUK should deal with all issues that it supposed to deal with. 4. RAJUK must make its plan, programs and activities more pro-poor. RAJUK should give more stress on the welfare of poor and homeless people specially in lack areas in terms of giving stress on influential grabbers. 5. Supervision in compulsory to stop the violation of rules and regulations of RAJUK by any organizations or authority so that they will be restricted in using the plots in commercial purpose. Besides these1. RAJUK will need to construct roads and lanes as well as widen the existing ones. 2. RAJUK must increase its manpower. It must have adequate number of professional and technical manpower worthy of executing planning functions for this mega city. 3. RAJUK must place total emphasis on its planning activities and quit land development functions. RAJUK should also install sustainable capabilities to prepare and implement such plans.
4. Zonal Offices of RAJUK is necessary. This could be merged with DCC's zonal offices so that city planning and service management functions can work together in coordination for the benefit of the city. 5. RAJUK has limited power for adopting legal measures dealing with building control, which hinders its functions. Special laws have to be enacted to empower RAJUK for planning and building control functions. 6. RAJUK should allot 50 percent of the land to low income groups for rehabilitation of slum and squatter settlements. If this is done as an alternative to eviction RAJUK will be doing a much better job of making Dhaka more livable at the same time it will also become a more effective body.
Conclusion:
RAJUK deals with certain aspect of urban development problems like preparation of land use plan, detail area plan and enforcement of town development regulations to control unplanned development. It is a giant organization as regards capital input and development activities. But its administrative structure, planning and co-ordination do not support the scale at which it is working. The organization losses effectiveness in work often because of corruption and a lack interdepartmental co-ordination. One common allegation against RAJUK is its operations as an organization for serving the interest of the people close to power and specially the members of the party in power. Projects take so much time in implementing that flexibility study losses value at the time of their implementation. In order to remove these problems, RAJUK should be substantially reformed as indicated elsewhere in the paper for making its planning, infrastructure and service providing, land development and development control more effective.
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Reference:
Supporting Urban Governance Reform; (April 2005), Final Report; ADB, p. 2-77, 2-79, 3-24 http://www.rajukdhaka.gov.bd/rajuk/aboutusHome, Accessed on 14/11/2012 http://www.rajukdhaka.gov.bd/rajuk/page/web/about/rajuk_organogram , Accessed on 14/11/12 http://forum.daffodilvarsity.edu.bd/index.php? PHPSESSID=ldcoqlsq8n48qor7upgk55s7d6&topic=4560.0, Accessed on 15/11/2012 http://newstoday.com.bd/rss.xml, Accessed on 16/11/2012 http://news.priyo.com/sites/all/themes/framework/favicon.ico , Accessed on 16/11/2012 http://www.banglanews24.com/images/common/banglanews24.ico , Accessed on 17/11/2012 http://www.thedailystar.net/suppliments/2010/02/ds19/segment1/governance.htm , Accessed on 17/11/2012
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