Land owners for scrapping discriminatory Floor Area Ratio system
The Dhaka City Land Owners Association has demanded the cancellation of the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) system and per-katha unit limitations in the Detailed Area Plan (DAP), saying the changes adversely affect more than 200,000 landowners.
At a press conference held today at the National Press Club, the association's Chief Coordinator, Professor Dewan MA Sajjad, said the new DAP unreasonably reduces building height and size, ignoring the interests of landowners.
Where previously a 10-story building could be constructed on a plot, now only five stories are permitted. This has caused major financial losses for landowners," he said.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
He also accused institutions like Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) of creating inequality and cheating landowners by reducing FAR and plot sizes. "Many buildings are being constructed through bribery, violating the rules, while proper oversight is absent," he added.
Other coordinators present at the press conference included Tanvirul Islam Chowdhury, K M Ejaz Mahmud, Engineer Humayun Kabir Shimul, Advocate Rezaul Hossain (Supreme Court), journalists Bablu Rahman, Syeda Afsarun Nahar Liza, and others.
The association also highlighted that, despite the DAP, no planned roads have been built in Dhaka over the past three years. Meanwhile, rivers, canals, and wetlands have been filled in and the government has shown no oversight in this regard.
The association's key demands include declaring the DAP 2025-35 based on the 2008 Building Construction Regulations and ensuring its proper implementation, simplifying the construction approval process, ending harassment by Rajuk, and including the association as a stakeholder in all DAP-related amendment meetings.
Under the 2022-2035 DAP, the maximum FAR of 5–6 has been applied only to certain areas, while neighborhoods housing most of Dhaka's middle- and lower-income residents have been assigned the lowest FAR of 1–3, a move the association called discriminatory.
Leaders of the association said they would pursue their demands through the country's court and, if necessary, international forums.
