Regional planning for social facilities: a study of Kushtia district

Abstract

One of the objedives of regional planning is to achieve a balanced groMh, In developing countries disparity in term~ of :.en'iee facilities between regions IS lIlereaslllg. Most of the time in developing countries like l33Jlg13desh selection of implementation areas for developmenl pmjects is based on apparent conditions rather lhan a ~omprehensive study of requirements too often leading to an unbalanced growlh. No methodology or selection criteria for identifying areas with priority need j()r particular development initiatives exist. This study follows Populalilln Threshold method to identify areas within Kushtia dIstrict depri~ed orso~ial facilitie:. compared to other areas witllin the region, Pmvi,ion of 'erviee facilities is always bounded by resource constraints, especially In the lhird world countries like Hangladesh. Therefore service facility planning requires a well developed method for the crItIcal examination of existing facilities and their distribution to avoid wastagc of resources. ThIs paper applies such a method to identify disparItIes among the thanas of Kushtia districl in terms 01"edu~ational, commercial, health and olher selecled social services and includes policy recommendations to reJu~e the imbalance.