Dhaka Projects - Part 3

[jason.kazi]

Old Airport Tunnel to be constructed soon »
Current View Report

The construction of the first-ever tunnel beneath the old airport finally gets moving as the Communications Ministry has moved to conduct feasibility study of the proposed tunnel linking Jahangir Gate and Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.

No tangible initiative has been made over the last three years although experts have time and again suggested for the tunnel to ease traffic congestion on the airport road, especially in Mohakhali and Prime Minister Office areas. The Strategic Transport Plan (STP) also recommended for the tunnel.

The feasibility study will begin in next March to determine alignment, construction method and assess economic viability with an estimated cost of taka eight crore, said a Bridge Division official.

He said two firms have submitted proposals to conduct the study. They are Yooshin Engineering BCL, a joint venture company of Korea and Bangladesh and SMEC-COWL-ACE, also a joint venture company of Australia, Denmark and Bangladesh.

Official said they are evaluating their offers and expect toappoint one firm by the end of May.

The communication Ministry held an inter-ministerial meeting at its Bridge Division in this connection to expedite the move As per the primary concept the tunnel will be multi-considering the future the future traffic volume with at least four-lanes.

Construction of the tunnel is necessary as the Mohakhali flyover could not its desire goal of easing traffic rush on the Airport Road.

The link road constructed along the old airport eased the situation, but that too cannot completely serve the purpose of diverting traffic flow to areas like Mirmur, Mohammadpur, Agergoan, Shyamoli, Rayerbazar, Dhanmondi and Lalbagh.

Communication Minister said they want to finalize everything in this regard without delay.

The Communication Ministry has taken a number of projects, including construction of flyovers, elevated expressway, metro rail, under passes and over passes in the last two years to ease intolerable traffic congestion in the city. But delay in implementation of the projects has further deteriorated the situation.

Vision for Tejgaon Airport (made by a student): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwHUYxQsigg

[jason.kazi]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B2in...hannel&list=UL

Artscape for Purbachal (Made by a student)

[jason.kazi]

The public parking lot in Dilkusha is nearing completion and will hold up to 1200 cars. This along with City Centre is meant to alleviate on-street parking.

[Aerithia]

Nice projects!

But once again a country with over 140 million people in a relatively small area should go for taller buildings, someone told me earlier that Dhaka was built upon pretty wet and swampy land and therefore it's not suitable to build tall buildings but countries like Indonesia and the Philippines have their cities built upon islands in very wet climates and these manage to build very high buildings!

Nonetheless, atleast the buildings in Bangladesh look better than the ones in Iran, we're lucky if they even manage to cover other parts of the facade except for windows in glass.

[TIslam]

Originally Posted by jason.kazi

Old Airport Tunnel to be constructed soon »
Current View Report

................................

Vision for Tejgaon Airport (made by a student): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwHUYxQsigg

The military will never give up that piece of real estate.

[tanzirian]

Originally Posted by Aerithia

...but countries like Indonesia and the Philippines have their cities built upon islands in very wet climates and these manage to build very high buildings!

Tall buildings in those countries are not built on soft deltaic soil with bedrock far below the surface. Being on a wet island has nothing to do with that. Constructing buildings of similar height in Dhaka would be significantly more expensive. But, thank you for the kind words, and we will hope for some taller buildings down the line

[tita01]

Bangladeshi help to full projects in this link : http://www.urbika.com/cities/projects/821-dhaka

[mirzazeehan]

Originally Posted by Aerithia

Nice projects!

But once again a country with over 140 million people in a relatively small area should go for taller buildings, someone told me earlier that Dhaka was built upon pretty wet and swampy land and therefore it's not suitable to build tall buildings but countries like Indonesia and the Philippines have their cities built upon islands in very wet climates and these manage to build very high buildings!

Nonetheless, atleast the buildings in Bangladesh look better than the ones in Iran, we're lucky if they even manage to cover other parts of the facade except for windows in glass.

our buildings might look better,but you guys have much better roads and highways

There are some stupid out-dated government laws here as well that prevent many from construsting high rise buildings.For example,we have a law which doesn't allow any building to be over 150 feet tall in important commercial areas that are kilometers away from the airport---as per the law,it could be dangerous for aeroplanes.In reality,buildings as high as 300 feet exisit here flouting the law,but most developers prefer to go by the rules and thus build 150 feet tall towers.So once these stupid laws are gone in the near future, I am sure we will get atleast more 25-35 storied buildings regardless of the soil condition..

[jason.kazi]

Originally Posted by tita01

Bangladeshi help to full projects in this link : http://www.urbika.com/cities/projects/821-dhaka

Most of that info you have there is incorrect. And you are just posting stuff from this forum on that website?

[mirzazeehan]

30 storied Unique Mehnur,Banani



BMW Point,Uttara



Khandker Tower,Gulshan



Union Properties Tower,Gulshan



Construction of towers at Banani 11

[Manazir]

Unique Mehnur doesn't look like 30 stories! :O

and whats with the BMW point building??

[jason.kazi]

What's the actual name? Is this the Union Center at 68 Gulshan Avenue?

[jason.kazi]

The last time I counted, Gulshan-1/Gulshan-2/Pragati Sarani have 45 projects upcoming or already under construction.

[mirzazeehan]

Originally Posted by jason.kazi

What's the actual name? Is this the Union Center at 68 Gulshan Avenue?

Yep...They are making the union center much taller.

[jason.kazi]

Work on Hatirjheel project in the city has been going on in full swing. The photograph was taken Wednesday.

[jason.kazi]

Ignoring the forefront of the photo, in the background we can see Trust Bank Building finishing up.

[jason.kazi]

JS panel smells a plot in Rajuk business

Dhaka, APR 30: A parliamentary watchdog, on Monday, suspected that the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakhha (Rajuk) might have resorted to “corrupt practices” in converting residential plots into commercial ones in Gulshan and Banani. Back in late 2001, the state-owned development authorities had legalised unauthorised commercial entities by creating new category, “converted non-residential plots”, in addition to its three existing categories—residential, commercial and institutional—for the Dhaka metropolis.
A subcommittee, formed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, unearthed the irregularities while it was reviewing Rajuk’s 2001 plan for conversion of residential plots into non-residential ones.
“It is a clear violation of rules and practices. We don’t know why the authorities needed to convert residential plots into non-residential ones,” Noor-e-Alam Chowdhury, head of the subcommittee, told reporters.
Chowdhury said his panel recommended scrapping of the conversion and removing the unauthorized commercial entities from the areas as soon as possible.
He said the conversion had changed the characteristics of a well planned residential area.
According to the Rajuk master plan, the city development authorities have three categories of plots—residential, commercial and institutional, he said. The subcommittee has rejected the Rajuk list of plots in Gulshan and Banani, which was submitted at Monday’s meeting, and sought a fresh list to be submitted at its next meeting.



The “converted non-residential” plots can be used for banks, business houses, insurance offices, clinics, restaurants, automobile showrooms, books and stationary shops, travel agency offices, computer centres, ceramics showrooms, laundries and others business purposes, the Rajuk conversion plan stated.
The Rajuk list shows only eight plots as commercial and four “converted non-residential” plots on either side of the Kemal Ataturk avenue in Banani, Chowdhury said. There are hundreds of commercial shops in the area, he added.
“How can we accept such a fabricated list from the state-run development agency?,” Chowdhury said.
Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, a member of the committee, said Banani Road-11 had no commercial plots, but some residential plots had been shown as “converted non-residential” plots.
The Rajuk list shows only 27 “converted non-residential” plots in Banani Road-11. In reality, there are 100 more commercial entities and shops there, Kamal said, asking why a new category needed to emerge.
Influential quarters, in connivance with a section of Rajuk officials, first apply for converting residential plots into “converted non-residential” plots by paying only Tk. 10 per katha, subcommittee head Chowdhury said.
The “converted non-residential” plots are then turned into commercial ones by depositing Tk. 20 lakh per katha, he added.
“One katha of commercial land in Gulshan and Banani costs Tk. 10 crore, and there is no other shortcut for converting residential plots into commercial ones,” he said, adding that the charges for commercial usage of gas, electricity and water were higher than that for domestic usage.
The subcommittee chief said Gulshan and Banani areas overflowed with thousands of vehicles coming to the commercial entities.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, on March 29, formed the four-member subcommittee to review the pattern of plots in Gulshan, Banani and Uttara areas. Zahirul Haque Bhuiyan Mohan and K M Khalid are the other members of the panel.

[TIslam]

Originally Posted by jason.kazi

JS panel smells a plot in Rajuk business

Dhaka, APR 30: A parliamentary watchdog, on Monday, suspected that the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakhha (Rajuk) might have resorted to “corrupt practices” in converting residential plots into commercial ones in Gulshan and Banani. Back in late 2001, the state-owned development authorities had legalised unauthorised commercial entities by creating new category, “converted non-residential plots”, in addition to its three existing categories—residential, commercial and institutional—for the Dhaka metropolis.
A subcommittee, formed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, unearthed the irregularities while it was reviewing Rajuk’s 2001 plan for conversion of residential plots into non-residential ones.
“It is a clear violation of rules and practices. We don’t know why the authorities needed to convert residential plots into non-residential ones,” Noor-e-Alam Chowdhury, head of the subcommittee, told reporters.
Chowdhury said his panel recommended scrapping of the conversion and removing the unauthorized commercial entities from the areas as soon as possible.
He said the conversion had changed the characteristics of a well planned residential area.
According to the Rajuk master plan, the city development authorities have three categories of plots—residential, commercial and institutional, he said. The subcommittee has rejected the Rajuk list of plots in Gulshan and Banani, which was submitted at Monday’s meeting, and sought a fresh list to be submitted at its next meeting.



The “converted non-residential” plots can be used for banks, business houses, insurance offices, clinics, restaurants, automobile showrooms, books and stationary shops, travel agency offices, computer centres, ceramics showrooms, laundries and others business purposes, the Rajuk conversion plan stated.
The Rajuk list shows only eight plots as commercial and four “converted non-residential” plots on either side of the Kemal Ataturk avenue in Banani, Chowdhury said. There are hundreds of commercial shops in the area, he added.
“How can we accept such a fabricated list from the state-run development agency?,” Chowdhury said.
Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, a member of the committee, said Banani Road-11 had no commercial plots, but some residential plots had been shown as “converted non-residential” plots.
The Rajuk list shows only 27 “converted non-residential” plots in Banani Road-11. In reality, there are 100 more commercial entities and shops there, Kamal said, asking why a new category needed to emerge.
Influential quarters, in connivance with a section of Rajuk officials, first apply for converting residential plots into “converted non-residential” plots by paying only Tk. 10 per katha, subcommittee head Chowdhury said.
The “converted non-residential” plots are then turned into commercial ones by depositing Tk. 20 lakh per katha, he added.
“One katha of commercial land in Gulshan and Banani costs Tk. 10 crore, and there is no other shortcut for converting residential plots into commercial ones,” he said, adding that the charges for commercial usage of gas, electricity and water were higher than that for domestic usage.
The subcommittee chief said Gulshan and Banani areas overflowed with thousands of vehicles coming to the commercial entities.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, on March 29, formed the four-member subcommittee to review the pattern of plots in Gulshan, Banani and Uttara areas. Zahirul Haque Bhuiyan Mohan and K M Khalid are the other members of the panel.

As if anything meaningful is going to come out of it!

[jason.kazi]

Hatirjheel-Begunbari project continues swiftly:
Photos by Engr. Ahmed

[mirzazeehan]

The bridges will look quite impressive once complete...and I am guessing they whalide well lit like the banani-gulshan link bridge to enhance their looks.