LGRD and cooperatives minister Tazul Islam on Thursday expressed his disappointment over uncontrolled development at Purbachal with no plan for controlling population density.
Such unplanned development may ultimately make the number of residents at Purbachal 5.0 million instead of 1.0 million as planned, he uttered.
Mr Islam said the number of residents has to be fixed first before developing a city.
Essential utility services cannot be provided if unplanned and uncontrolled high rises are allowed here as there is inadequate road infrastructure, he added.
Regarding the massive costs involved in the reclamation of canals by two city corporations, Mr Islam said the government will think about the costs later.
The World Bank shows interest to fund the project, but Bangladesh will consider the time they will take in disbursing the loan as the time is very short, he said.
Mr Tazul said, "You have to think whether you should go for high rises or not because there is a shortage of necessary infrastructure, utility service."
"It's estimated that only 1.0-million people will live at Purbachal, but the way development work is ongoing there, the population will reach 5.0 million."
The minister was addressing a view-exchange meeting with the members of Nagar Unnayan Sangbadik Forum in his official residence as part of celebrating his two years in office.
"It's not possible to provide more road infrastructure than the present one if more high rises are built as population density won't be controlled creating more congestion on roads."
"That's why," Mr Islam said, "buildings will be constructed as per the population size fixed for an area."
As the convener of the detailed area plan review committee, he said a plan is in the process to control population density.
According to experts, it is not possible to make Dhaka liveable by further allowing any high rises.
Mr Islam said canal recovery is very difficult. Only a public representative entity can implement it. But the then Dhaka south mayor Sayeed Khokon did not want to take responsibility.
"We've been planning consultation with experts on how to recover canals in a sustainable manner. A meeting will be held with city corporations and other stakeholders very soon."
"We will first try to develop a project which can be implemented by our own funds," the minister mentioned.
Local government engineering department is getting less allocation for rural infrastructure development. For this reason, the quality of infrastructure is not satisfactory, he observed.
A gazette on a guideline on rural infrastructure will be issued soon. It includes the specification of work and increased cost, the minister cited.
On a recent scam in bridge and culvert projects, he said they are awaiting an investigation report. The LGED has formed 20 teams of engineers to monitor rural infrastructure projects.
Mr Islam said the government has been trying not to increase project duration and cost. So, land will be acquired before a project is prepared.
Regarding the problems of salary and other benefits in municipalities, he said many municipalities cannot pay salaries to their staffers as they claim they are not financially capable.
"I've stopped foreign trip of those mayors and public representatives where salary is unpaid. I've told them to win citizens' trust by improving service delivery."
"Then they (citizens) won't hesitate to pay tax. It happened in my Laksham municipality and they raised revenue income from Tk 8.0 million to Tk 40 million," Mr Islam said.
msshova@gmail.com