Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The detailed area plan for Dhaka city is likely to get stuck yet again as the authorities concerned are planning to extend the deadline for finalizing it by another six months, officials said.
The city development agency Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) has already missed three deadlines for finalization of the detailed area plan, generally known as DAP.
The city development authorities are scheduled to complete finalization of the DAP by June 30, 2009, according to the latest deadline.
The RAJUK authorities decided to finalize the DAP by December 30 last year but the timeline was deferred in the face of protest and criticism from urban experts, town planners and green activists.
Meanwhile, the four consultants who have prepared the survey reports on DAP also held the review committee responsible for the delay in finalizing the project.
“The RAJUK authorities are making unnecessary delay in finalising the DAP under the pressure from the review committee,’ Toufiq M Seraj, Managing Director of Sheltech, one of the four consultants, was quoted by the New Age, a local newspaper, as saying.
The DAP project, the third phase of Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan, was undertake in 2004 at an estimated cost of BDT 224.70 million, but later the project cost was increased BDT 249.40 million.
BBN/SS/ANS/AD-18May09-9:39 am (BST)