Think in new ways for affordable housing: Minister to Rehab

Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury on Sunday urged the real estate companies to think out of the box to provide affordable housing to people in the cities.

“Bangladesh has been able to boost its economic growth with private sector’s contributions. The government is developing infrastructures of the country. Now a partnership is needed between public and private sectors. You (real estate businessmen) should think how to arrange affordable housing here,” he said.

The minister said this at a seminar on “Challenges of Real Estate in Urbanization and Decentralization” organised by DCCI at a hotelin the capital.

Saifuzzaman said, “We all know Dhaka is a densly-populated city and the government has taken a good number of development projects to make this city worth living. The government is introducing ‘online e-mutation’ system from June this year and the land owners will be able to pay the fees online.”

He also said the government is planning to go for land-zoning soon, and urged real estate entruprenuers to build satellite towns under public-private partnership.

Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Atiqul Islam said now making Dhaka a safe city is a big challenge. “The unplanned city is a curse now for us. We’ve to work togather to resolve Dhaka’s problems. We see many buildings being built in unplanned ways in the cities. We should work in a planned way.”

Mentioning that about 49,000 people are living in per square kilometre in Dhaka, he stressed the need for reducing the pressure on the capital city through building satellite towns outside the mega cities. All the civic facilities should be ensured in rural areas as well to ease the pressure on the capital, he added.

Atiqul Islam said the DNCC is going to launch “Nagorik App”and open 27 playgrounds with modern facilities for mass people in the capital soon.

Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (Rehab) president Alamgir ShamsulAlamin said a large number ofpeople cometo Dhaka city every day for getting various facilities in absence of those in villages.

“Dhaka alone cannot take this load. So the government should expand these facilities especially health, education, banking and administrative activities to the rural areas,” he said.

He underlined the need for adopting satellite township model in Bangladesh for the development of real estate sector and urged the government to reduce registration fees of apartments and plot sale alongside bringing down bank interest rate for this sector.

KaziGolamNasir, chief architect, architecture department of Housing and Public Works Ministry, read out a key note paper at the seminar.

He said, “We have many challenges ahead us to make Dhaka livable. The challenges are----migration (job, health facilities and education), land scarcity and land value (more accommodation, density change, load on supporting amenities), approval system, high interest on bank loan, high price of construction materials; tax, VAT, registration and other charges, decentralisation, lack of skilled labour, government incentive and policy, innovative design and ideas, and environment friendly and sustainable construction.”

President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Osama Taseer said Dhaka city is no longer a livable city now. Safe and inclusive rehabilitation in the city is needed for sustainable development by 2030. So, a national mega plan on land use should be taken for flourishing the housing sector and building planned cities, he said.

DCCI Vice President Imran Ahmed, DCCI Convenor Arman Haque, Professor of BUET Dr Ahsanul Kabir, former Senior Vice Presidents of DCCI Abdus Salam and MS Shekil Choudhury, DCCI Directors Engr. Akber Hakim, Andaleeb Hasan, Alhaj Deen Mohammad, Enamul , Kh. Rashedul Ahsan, KMN Manjurul Hoque, Md. Rashedul Karim Munna, Nuher Latif Khan, SM Zillur Rahman and former DCCI President Rashed Maksud Khan were also present on the occasion.