* UDD was established in 1965 with aim of physical infrastructure development
* In 58 years, the main task of the organization has not been to formulate
* In 2017, Physical Infrastructural Plan was initiated but could not get it approved
# Hundreds crores are being wasted in approving unnecessary projects
- Akhter Mahmud, Professor, JU
The government could not start the main work even after 58 years of the establishment of the Urban Development Directorate (UDD). For a long time, the main task of the organization was not to formulate a national physical infrastructural plan. As a result, hundreds of crores are being lost with unplanned and wrong development in the country.
According to concerned, every country has a national physical infrastructural plan which regulates the proper use of the country’s land. This leads to planned and environmentally friendly development. Agriculture, forests, wetlands, mountains get protection. It is possible to take and implement development projects in the light of people's needs. This can prevent wastage by stopping wrong development and unnecessary projects.
It was known that the then government established the UDD in 1965 to develop the Bangladesh region in a planned way. The main function of this organization is to prepare a national physical infrastructural plan. That is, there are instructions about how to use every inch of land in that plan.
According to urban planners, the National Building Code is the main document for the construction of buildings in any country. Construction of buildings without following the instructions of this code is illegal. The government is working to ensure sustainable building development in the country following the code. In other countries of the world, the use of land is controlled by taking physical planning as a document.
However, the government is unable to determine the land use or project requirements as the document is not prepared in Bangladesh. Due to these root lumps, agricultural lands, wetlands, hills are being created randomly. Various types of installations, unplanned industrialization are happening. The country's agricultural land is decreasing at the rate of 1 percent annually due to unplanned housing and industrialization.
According to UDD officials, the organization had been playing a strong role for nearly two decades since its establishment. An officer of the rank of secretary headed the body. The signature of the UDD director would have got legal status. However, gradually the importance of UDD has decreased. The main reason for this is that politicians want to do development work according to their whims and fancies. Everyone wants to implement a road or project in front of their house. For this reason, the organization could not take a strong form even after 58 years of its establishment.
The city planners said that those who were in the leadership of UDD have weakened the organization so far. Although they are the national planning agency, they continue to give priority to non-planners. They fought for their job opportunities and personal interests. The manpower structure has been proposed several times, while the number of non-planners has been proposed. Besides, the incident of posting violating seniority has also weakened the organization.
They also added that there are still some of the best planners in the country in UDD. But they were sent to the tact. Someone else is suppressed. They are not being led by them. The main reason is that non-planners have kept the company under their control. Senior incumbents of the government are indifferent to the problems of UDD.
Urban planner and Jahangirnagar University professor Dr Akhter Mahmud said, development is taking place due to lack of national physical infrastructural planning. In the absence of a physical plan, the Planning Commission is also unable to scrutinize the approval of the project. Unnecessary projects are being approved. Billions of dollars are being wasted every year.
Although Bangladesh is a small country, it has diverse land uses. But due to lack of planned use of land, one percent of agricultural land is being converted into non-agricultural sector every year. The government has to take initiative in this regard to save the country.
Md Nabirul Islam, secretary of the housing and public works ministry, said it would be investigated why the UDD could not carry out its works. I have heard discussions about UDD since I joined this ministry. The present minister has announced the planned development of the entire country along with the urban areas. This is what the current government wants. For this, we will sit with UDD on behalf of the ministry. We will identify the problems and take initiatives to solve them. So that UDD can do their work properly to build a planned Bangladesh.
ZH
