International Business Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB) organized a Stakeholders Meeting on Developing Satellite City under Public Private Partnership (PPP) on Thursday (29th of May 2014) at its Banani Office in the city. The meeting was presided over by the Mr. Hafizur Rahman Khan, President of IBFB and moderated by Mr. Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury, Founding President of IBFB where Mr. Suhel Ahmed Chowdhury, former Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Public Works, Ministry of Shipping and Ministry of Commerce presented the Keynote Paper.
The meeting was organized to pursue the govt. for immediate implementation of decentralization as to reduce over population, huge traffics and other associated burdens from the capital and to introduce a well-planned urbanization and development involving private sector under Public Private Partnership (PPP) keeping in view of 100 years to come, say Vision 2121. The key points discussed in the meeting were as follows:
- State of play in present Dhaka. As it stands today, it is the end product of multiple Stand-Alone projects since 1947 which have contributed towards a messy development of capital city;
- Pick up a role-model for planned development of our capital city and we suggest Singapore city. Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world – only choice we have is either Singapore or Hong Kong;
- Redevelopment of old areas, half-planned/unplanned areas and so on, as have been done in Singapore, Brussels, Jersey City, USA and elsewhere in the world;
- Development of entire Hatirjheel Area – North and South – including Tejgaon;
- Development of new Satellite Townships around Dhaka (meaning more Purbachols) and Sub-cities around and beyond Dhaka, in areas like Jamuna Parh (beside Jamuna Access Road), Char Janajaat, Arhiol Beel area and so on;
- Area Development by the private sector (a chunk of land 200 acres or above, perhaps organized under Co-op Societies or Associations etc.) under strict guidelines formulated and supervised by the government agency;
- Create a much more powerful and effective RAJUK – totally restructured, perhaps in the line of DDA with a senior minister as the board chairman, a senior secretary as vice chairman and CEO and so on;
- Take Climate Change Issues into serious consideration and consequent adaptive measures;
- And how Public Private Partnership can and would assist in these ventures if private sector is invited to participate with adequate finance, competent personnel and organizational strength.
The meeting was attended by both the public and private sector stakeholders involved in housing, real estate and land development sector. In addition to high officials and dignitaries from the Ministry of Housing & Public Works, National Housing Authority, RAJUK, Bangladesh House Building & Finance Corporation, Rajshahi Development Authority (RDA) and other relevant govt. agencies, representatives from Bangladesh Land Developers Association (BLDA), Real Estate & Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB), Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP), Institute of Architects Bangladesh (IAB), high officials of various reputed housing and real estate companies, IBFB Directors and Members engaged in housing and real estate business were present in the meeting.
Among the participants, Mr. Omar Shafayat Kausar, IBFB Vice President, Mr. Iqbal Hussaiyn, IBFB Director, Ms. Lutfunnisa Saudia Khan, IBFB Director, Ms. Priti Chakraborty, IBFB Director, Mr. Ershad Hussain Rana, IBFB Director, Mr. Anwar Shahid, Managing Director, Shimex International, Md. Nazrul Islam Sikdar, Chairman, Sara Properties Ltd, Mr. AKM Badrul Alam, Director, Sajeeb Homes Ltd, Mr. Abul Kaalam Azad, Head of Development, Runner Properties Ltd, Mr. Imtiaz Uddin Rana, Director, Redeem Purbachal City Ltd, Mr. Abdul Latif, Apon Paribar Group, Engr. Aminul Karim Siddique, Executive Director, Amin Mohammad Group, Mr. Azizur Rahman, General Manager, Bashundhara Group, Mr. AKM Nawsherul Alam, General Manager, BLDA, Mr. Nasimul Ghani, CFO, United City Development, Mr. Tapas Nag, DGM, Ideal Home Builders Ltd etc. were present in the meeting.
The Stakeholders Meeting will be followed by a national seminar on the same topic to be held on 10th June 2014 at Pan Pacific Sonargaon, Dhaka where Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, MP, Honorable Minister, Ministry of Housing & Public Works will be present as the Chief Guest.
