Bangladesh

• Implementation of the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP) should be properly reviewed and regularly
  updated.
• Better coordination is to be ensured among utility agencies belonging to different ministries and city
  corporations/municipalities.
• Zoning recommended in DMDP and Bangladesh National Building Code is to be enforced.
• The remaining parks, ponds, and open spaces of the city have to be preserved and the lost ones should be restored.
• The capacity for provision of utilities is to be expanded to keep pace with the growing necessity.
• Permission for construction of high-rise buildings has to be given only after careful assessment of the ensuring burden on utility supply and of the impact on the neighbourhood environment.
• Establishment of new industrial enterprises within the city has to be carefully controlled by enforcing environmental regulations strictly.
• Efforts to cordon off Dhaka city from adjoining rivers should be abandoned; instead old canals are to be restored, and Dhaka city is to be connected extensively with surrounding rivers.
• Embankments, if necessary, may be constructed only to regulate the timing and extent of river overflow, not to cordon off the city from the rivers.
• Emphasis should be given on developing an efficient mass transport system, instead of encouraging use of private cars.
• The traffic rules are to be strictly enforced, sidewalks should be kept unobstructed, old and defective vehicles are to be banned from the streets.
• Appropriate sensitivity has to be shown to the needs of people in banning slow moving vehicles (such as rickshaws) from various streets.
• Slum dwelling should be discouraged through creation of employment and income earning opportunities in rural areas and small townships all across the country, and not through sudden forceful evictions of slums.
• In approving building and construction plans, attention should be given to their potential resistance to earthquakes.
• Arrangement has to be made for proper monitoring of earthquake.
  Other large cities can learn from the experience of Dhaka city to resolve similar problems.
  
  Source: BAPA June 2003: ICBEN 2002