Some Urban Problems in Dhaka City of Bangladesh and Proposal for Introducing 'Service Tunne' (Setu) and 'Planned Urban Residential Area' (Pura)

The paper deals with some burning problems related to supplies of utilities, transportation of people, livable space in the residential area, social infra-structure, open space, social interaction arena, pollution etc. of Dhaka city of Bangladesh. The problems are expressive and acute such that the dwellers of the city do not need any statistics to grasp those. The suffering dwellers are in need of immediate solutions to these problems. In such a context, without going into detail explanations of these problems the authors have proposed altogether two new proposals, which they believe, are capable of solving some of these problems. Excellent neighborly relation, that was considered as a great wealth of the people of this region is on wane, and the authors believe, the present system of urban planning along with interferences of the agents with vested interest nets are responsible for it. The authors also believe that the solutions followed in the developed countries might not be equally effective in our context. Also the huge cost required for such solutions might be a great burden for a poor developing country. The authors have proposed for a two or three tier structure to be constructed along the centre of wide roads. The lowest tier, which is an underground tunnel would carry sewerage at the bottom and fresh water supply line at the roof level. The second tier is a tunnel above the ground and it would contain cable lines like power line, telecommunication line, dish-line cables etc. The roof of this structure would be used as a raised walkway. Such a structure would eliminate the constant digging and re-digging of roads in order to provide the ever changing quantities of the utilities. It would also relieve the city from the ugly scenes of crisscrossing overhead wires and provide additional walking routes. In the second proposal the authors have proposed for creating residential areas self-reliant in points of essential amenities. Proposal has been made for conducting questionnaire survey in order to find out the amenities which are surplus and which are lacking in any area. Then, the authors have suggested for administrative measures in which the administration has been requested to give tax facilities for establishing the missing amenities