An urban planners’ organisation on Saturday said the government has been attaching huge importance to development projects at the cost of green areas and water bodies, jeopardising human lives by increasing heat in the environment.
They also said due to massive destruction of green space and water bodies, Dhaka experienced a record breaking high temperature in April.
“Even 30 years ago, the environment of Dhaka was relatively comfortable, but later it started to degrade due to development in an unplanned way. We have plans and building construction laws but nothing could prevent the unplanned development,” Dr Adil Mohammed Khan, president of Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP), said.

“In this haphazard development, government institutions were in the front seat. The Civil Aviation Authority and BADC have filled up the water body for concrete structures,” he said at a dialogue titled “Heat Wave in Dhaka: Liability of Urban Planning and Management of Development and Way Forward” organised by BIP at its office in the capital.
An ideal city needs to have 25% green area and 10-15 % water body for environmental balance, according to the global standard of city planning.
Citing a study, BIP President Adil said in 1999, the coverage of concrete structures in DHAka was 65%. The capital city currently has 9% green coverage and 2.9% water body.
He said, “Development projects are prioritised by the government, not the lives of people. It is said that ‘this project is of the prime minister’, ‘it is the project of ppp model’ or ‘first track these priority projects’. But the lives of people are not a priority for the government.
“In the name of the expressway, we have destroyed the Panthakunja Park and a part of Hatirjheel.  Thus we have destroyed the green and open space, leading to heat waves. In the name of development of the station plaza of metro rail, we are destroying Anowara Udyan."
He said the government turned deaf ears to the requests of the civil society.
Speaking on the occasion, BIP General Secretary Shaikh Muhammad Mahedi Ahsan said due to unplanned development, there is 4 degrees Celsius of higher temperature within Dhaka city, while areas with more greenery are cooler.
He said, “The government has first framed the Delta Plan, then the Detailed Area Plan for Dhaka and now it is farming the Climate Action Plan, but these plans are not coordinated. How many master plans will you follow? This happens due to not following the whole society approach.”
Urban planner Redwanur Rahman blamed excessive use of air coolers and glass in buildings and urged for regulation for the luxury products.
He said, “Only 5% of people are using air coolers and contributing to urban heat generation. The use of cooler machines is consuming much electricity and causing load shedding, victimising the poor due to the heat."