Housing for all in Dhaka remains a far cry as about 37 per cent of Dhaka’s estimated 13 million people still live in slums while some 50,000 others do not even have a shelter, says a study. The study carried out by the Centre for Urban Studies for the government in 2008 also revealed that another 10 to 15 per cent population, who migrated to Dhaka seeking fortune, were living in a critical condition.

World Habitat Day will, meanwhile, be observed in the country as elsewhere in the world today, with the theme ‘planning our urban future.’ ‘The population of Dhaka city with an area of around 307 sq km now stands at 13 million with more than 300,000 buildings having around 1.6 million housing units,’ Professor Nazrul Islam, honorary adviser to CUS, told New Age Sunday.

At least 4.45 million more housing units would be needed by 2025 to ensure housing for all in the capital city, he added. According to the CUS study, some 50,000 people, who migrated to Dhaka for a living, are staying on city’s pavements and other places. About 37 per cent of the total population of Dhaka metropolitan area are stuffed into 4960 slums, whose population density ranges between 1,000 and 2,000 persons per acre.

The study shows that 75 per cent of Dhaka slums are located on private land. Another study, Urban Health Survey, conducted by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, suggests that more than 70 per cent people in Dhaka live in rented houses. Population of Dhaka city in 1974 was 1.77 million with an annual growth of 10.4 per cent while the city ranked 11th in an index of mega-cities of the world in 2000. There is no confirmed official data on Dhaka’s latest population, leaving scopes for various researchers to come up with various figures.

Executive director of Coalition for Urban Poor Mostafa Quaium Khan believes that the population of Dhaka city has already touched the 15 million mark. Professor Nazrul, also the chairman of University Grants Commission, said, ‘It is an election pledge of the ruling Awami League that it will ensure habitation for all. So the government must initiate move right at this moment to provide all with housing facilities.’ The urban expert suggested that the government should take a strategic plan to ensure housing for all giving special emphasis on low-income people as the rich and medium-income people can arrange homes on their own.

The public sector’s contribution to the housing in urban Bangladesh is only around 5 per cent while that of the formal private sector is less than 3 per cent. However, the contribution of public sector to housing is now declining while that of formal private sector is on the rise, Professor Nazrul said. The formal private sector currently plays absolutely no role in building homes for the poor while the public sector’s response to the housing need of low-income people remains insignificant, he pointed out.

-New Age