Metro authorities plan to build commercial plaza in Farmgate park

Highlights:

• DMTCL plans to build commercial enterprises in Farmgate's only park
• Anwara Udyan is being used as the company's project office and yard
• It wants to build station plazas in four metro rail stations
• The company aims for 30% revenue from non-ticketing activities
• Dhaka North City has opposed the plan of the Metrorail authorities

Dhaka Mass Transit Company (DMTCL), the government-owned company responsible for operating the metro rail, has planned to construct commercial enterprises such as shops, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment centres in the only park in the Farmgate area to increase its revenue.

The company has been using the park "Anwara Udyan" as a project office and yard since 2018. It was supposed to hand the park back to the authorities for public use after the completion of the project. However, DMTCL now says it wants to construct a station plaza on the park grounds.

Officials of the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and urban experts have voiced their opposition against the plan, calling it unreasonable.

DMTCL officials, however, say that they will not build anything in the park that would destroy it. They want to make the park more beautiful and build a car parking area on the west side.

Sources said the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) had taken responsibility for the maintenance and development of this park, which is owned by the Public Works Department. When DMTCL took over the park in 2018, there was a condition that it would return the park to the authorities in its previous state after completing the metro rail project.

However, with the scheduled opening of the Uttara-Motijheel (MRT-6) section of the metro on 29 October, there is also a plan to open the Farmgate station. Metrorail authorities have already begun removing most of the construction materials from Anwara Udyan. The Dhaka North City Corporation now wants to develop the park to make it suitable for public use.

In May this year, the matter of the park was discussed during a meeting of the project coordination committee for various development projects in Dhaka. During this meeting, DMTCL revealed their plan to construct station plazas at four metro rail stations – Farmgate, Agargaon, Uttara, and Kamalapur.

These station plazas are intended to include entertainment facilities for children, as well as shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, coffee shops, and entertainment centres for travellers, as stated by DMTCL officials during the meeting.

However, the Public Works Department has yet to respond to the request for land allocation by the metro rail authorities for the construction of station plazas in Farmgate and Agargaon, as well as for the expansion of footpaths at Mirpur-11 station.

In August, the issue was also discussed at the monthly coordination meeting of the Road Transport and Highways Division. According to the meeting minutes, the transfer of land to DMTCL is still pending. Another meeting has been scheduled to discuss the issue.

Officials said DMTCL wants to conduct commercial activities at every metro rail station to generate 30% of revenue from non-ticketing activities by constructing station plazas. Such arrangements are made to meet the operational expenses of metro rail in different countries.

Md Abdul Baquee Miah, DMTCL's director of planning and development, told The Business Standard that the company is not planning to do anything major to Farmgate Park. Instead, they will create a few car parking spaces on the west side of the park and develop the park itself.

When asked whether shops, hotels, and restaurants would be built in the station plaza, he said that DMTCL would first open the station and then decide on next steps. 

He assured the public that something good would happen in the park. "You can trust that something good will happen here."

Dhaka North City Mayor Md Atiqul Islam opposes the DMTCL's plan to build a station plaza in the Farmgate park, arguing that Dhaka needs more playgrounds and parks and that there is no need for more shopping malls in Farmgate.

"I will not allow another park to become a commercial station plaza," he said. "Children's mental health is not developed by shopping malls; only parks and playgrounds can develop children's mental health."

The mayor added that he had previously written a letter requesting a park and playground at the same location and that the public works department had granted permission.

"I also spoke to the local MP, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan," the mayor said. "He also does not want any shopping mall or plaza here."

Adil Mohammed Khan, executive director of the Institute for Planning and Development (IPD), told TBS that the Open Space Conservation Act prohibits the destruction of parks for the construction of commercial plazas. He called it a "suicidal decision" to allow the construction of a plaza in an existing park, especially in a city that does not have even 10% of the required parks and playgrounds.