Abstract:
Housing situation of Dhaka city has never been satisfactory; rather the situation
remained always very poor in all respects. The majority of the dwellings are
sub-standard, unsafe and overcrowded. The ancillary physical, social and economical
facilities .and services essential for the development of healthy and harmonious
community life are highly inadequate.
To meet the demand for the huge population of Dhaka city and to reduce the
pressure of high population density in the city, the authorities of early sixties
felt the necessity of building new residential communities. Accordingly, on the!
basis of Dhaka Master Plan of 1959 and following a feasibility study, the Dhaka
Improvement Trust (DlT) authority initiated the 'North Satellite Township' project
in 1965, which is now known and named as 'Uttara Model Town'.
Since the initiation of the project more than two decades has passed. But the
sad part of the story is that. uptill now. only a few plot-owners have constructed
houses on their plots, the total development process of the communitv in
the township is painfully slow. Consequently. for two decades the township is
lying almost IJacant while the city. under the pressure of population growth
has rapidly expanded in unplanned haphazard way in different directions.
The objective of the present study is to determine the causes of the slow process
of development and to evaluate whether the Model Town could still help
in reducing the overcrowding and conjestion of Dhaka city. The research was
conducted to identify the problems from policy formulation to implementation
stage and also to identify the problems faced by the authority, the alia tees
and the present residents! users.
It was identified that there existed certain mistakes in the basic principles.
policies and programmes which can not be corrected at this stage. However.
certain problems inherent with the implementation stage can be easily remedied;
and recommendations has been made in the thesis for the remedy of those problems.
It is expected that the findings of the thesis will be helpful to formulate
future guidelines. policies and principles in the planning and development of
new communities.
