Significant Influence 4
Somewhat
Influence BELA, BAPA, CUS
Very Influential 5
Significant Influence
Final Consultation Workshop on
Strategic Environmental Assessment of Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan
16 August 2007
Venue: Dhaka Sheraton Hotel WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS
The Final Consultation Workshop on the SEA was held on 16 August 2007 at Dhaka as the final round of consultations with key stakeholders to discuss the draft Final Report of Strategic Environmental Assessment of DMDP and to seek concluding feedback.
Workshop Objectives
The principal objectives of the workshop were as follows:
Apprise stakeholders of the findings and recommendations of the Strategic EA study; Develop broad consensus on the recommendations with the stakeholders of concern;
Explore potential for assessing whether a consensus existed for setting up a regional (DMDP wide) strategic planning authority; and
Discuss ways to kick-start institutional reform and carry out strengthening of key urban planning agencies responsible for planning and plan implementation in the DMDP region.
Inaugural Session
The workshop commenced with a recitation of the Holy Quran. This was followed by the inaugural address of Chief Guest, Mr A S M Rashidul Hai, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Works.
Mr Hai accepted in his speech that urban planning in Dhaka is presently constrained by a number of systemic shortcomings including lack on planning capacity within the apex planning agency RAJUK; inadequate coordination between various agencies; absence of land use zoning; and the non-existence of an overarching planning guidelines and planning document to guide urban development. This has resulted in fractured, haphazard and environmentally unsustainable urbanisation of Dhaka City. He also opined that it was unlikely for the DAPs planning process alone to solve the present problems of lack of urban infrastructure and associated environmental degradation until some action is taken at the strategic level to provide overall direction to urban planning in Dhaka. He said that such strategic planning needs to consider the entire DMDP area for dispersal of population, setting up of crucial infrastructure like sewage treatment plants or looking at ways for flood protection and control, keeping in mind long term scenarios. He also pointed out current scenario was unacceptable and the proposed changes provided an opportunity
to build improvements that promote environmentally sustainable and socially sensitive planning. Importantly, he also conveyed that the Government was prepared to consider appropriate reform in the institutions that play a key role in urban planning for Dhaka and also improve their planning capabilities through systematic strengthening and capacity building. He noted that the workshop was represented by members of key stakeholder groups and wanted it to be the platform to discuss the need for such new approaches and try and arrive at a consensus for taking the recommendations forward.
Chief Guest Mr A S M Rashidul Hai delivering his address in the Inaugural session
In her welcome address to the workshop by Ms Nayeema Khatun, Project Director SEA, she provided a brief outline of the planning process within the DMDP area and the presently ongoing DAP plan preparation process. She stressed on the need for environmentally-sound planning and underlined that this has prompted RAJUK in initiating this study with support from the World Bank. She explained that the SEA study was intended to undertake a detailed review of the existing DMDP and sectoral plans, understand their linkages with priority environmental issues and complement the DAP preparation process by providing an overall environmental framework for the DAPs. She requested the participants to come forward with opinions on the findings and recommendations of the study after reviewing the Executive Summary provided to the participants. She also expressed hope that the deliberations of the workshop would go a long way in drawing up inclusive and participative Detailed Area Plans in close collaboration with various other sectoral agencies and administrative authorities and would help the city to grow and prosper in an environmentally sustainable way.
Dr A K Ghosh, Senior Environmental Specialist of SENES briefly outlined the approach taken by the study team and explained the key conclusions reached. He explained that the that the priority environmental issues and constraints in the city of Dhaka were related primarily to the use of land and water resources and how their management have been factored into the recommendations that have been proposed by the study. He stressed on the need for drawing up a regional planning perspective taking the entire DMDP area and the immediate need for mapping of the present landuse and the establishment of a landuse control system for the city.
In his inaugural speech, special guest to the workshop Mr A H M Rezaul Kabir ndc, Secretary Ministry of Environment & Forest briefly referred to the magnitude of the environmental problems present in Dhaka city and pointed out that many of these environmental problems being encountered were a direct result of decades of unplanned and haphazard growth that the city has witnessed with scant regard to environmental considerations and issues. He noted that though the country had established project level EIA system, it has not worked to the satisfaction of the Ministry to be an effective mechanism because of the lack of proper monitoring and enforcement machinery within the government. In this context, he observed that higher-level (strategic) environmental assessments can play an important role to help decision makers to take important urban planning decisions that would help in arresting further environmental degradation in Dhaka and make progress towards building a cleaner and sustainable city that will provide it residents with a better and healthier quality of life.
In his inaugural speech, the Guest of Honour, Mr Xian Zhu, Country Director, The World Bank expressed his satisfaction at the way that Bangladesh is making steady progress with regard to a number of development indicators and said that the World Bank is extremely happy to be a partner in its advancement. He observed that the SEA study has played a crucial role in highlighting the gaps in the planning process and the institutional weaknesses that have hindered the planned development of the city in accordance with DMDP formulated in the early nineties and have brought into focus high potential risks to the environment and the vulnerable sections of the society. For example, he said that the study has pointed out the high risk of flooding to certain fringe areas of the DMDP can be further aggravated by climate change impacts in the medium to long term and has consequently highlighted an urgency to draw up integrated regional plans accounting for the entire DMDP area. He also noted that the study has also pointed out a need for institutional reforms and strengthening of key planning agencies like RAJUK in order to ensure that urban planning in Dhaka is undertaken in a holistic manner and factoring the requirements of the weaker sections of the society whose interests have been neglected in the current planning process. The World Bank, he said, would be happy to support the Government of Bangladesh in this process.
After this, a detailed presentation was made by Mr Debanjan Bandyopadhyay, Deputy Team Leader of the SEA Team on the findings and recommendations that have emerged from the study. He explained the specific objectives of the study and the methodology adopted. In doing so, he explained the reasons for the study to have metamorphosed into an “institution-centric” study from an environmental one. He elucidated the four priority issues that were short listed based on technical analysis and after receiving inputs from stakeholders on the environmental issues. Subsequently, the significant risks arising as a result of the gaps in the existing planning framework, weaknesses in the institutional setup and political economy considerations were explained. The high risk of progressing with the DAPs without having a higher level strategic planning guidelines based on current landuse and proposed landuse were also highlighted. This was followed by a presentation of the recommendations and requested the participants to freely speak up as the SEA team was open to receiving suggestions and feedback on both the findings and the recommendations of the study.
Subsequently, Mr M A Qasem, Director General, Local Government and Rural Development said in his speech that he agreed with the findings of the SEA and many of the key environmental problems are
influenced by political economy factors and little coordination between institutions responsible for plan implementation and monitoring. He observed that until some interventions were made at high level, finding solutions through “end-of-the-pipe” methods after the problems have already been created as result of faulty planning or inadequate coordination between institutions would only be superficial and is unlikely to solve the issues. He concluded by saying that there is a need to explore ways through which such coordination between RAJUK and the Dhaka City Corporation, Pourashavas and Sectoral Agencies like DWASA can be effected and agree on whether the Government should consider setting up of a higher level body to provide leadership in this regard or strengthen existing institutions appropriately to improve their planning capabilities and establish better systems for bringing about effective collaboration between all concerned departments and agencies.
The inaugural session of the workshop was chaired by Mr K A M Haroon, the Chairman of RAJUK. In his concluding remarks to the inaugural session, he thanked the distinguished speakers for being present at this important workshop and for expressing their views on the SEA study. He noted that the deliberations at the inaugural session have confirmed that if proper thought is given at the planning and decision making level, many of the environmental problems of Dhaka can be solved more effectively. He also observed that if the strategic assessment had been undertaken earlier, it may have resulted in better understanding of the weaknesses in the planning system and prevent some of the environmental damages that have already taken. After taking note of the earlier discussions, he was in broad agreement with the study’s recommendations and hoped that they can help in making necessary corrections in the DAP preparation process that are presently underway and also requested considering the establishment of a regional planning authority to guide the DAP consultants and associated sectoral agencies in carrying out the planning task effectively and efficiently. Before concluding the session, he also thanked the World Bank to support such a study.
Technical Session
The participants were divided into two groups to discuss the following two topics. After an hour and half of discussion the groups came back and presented their consensus on taking this study forward:
Group A: Strategic Environmental Planning Framework for Dhaka
The need for a higher level urban policy for delineating broad directions of growth, based on assessment of existing landuse in the DMDP, was felt required to adequately guide the local level DAP planning process.
It was discussed that the present DAP consultants would be able to complete the DAP formulation process with existing capabilities, in spite of certain hurdles being faced. The participants requested the SEA consultant to bring out the positives of the DAP planning process.
Opinion was expressed by the DAP consultants that the Terms of Reference for the DAP planning studies need to be modified taking into consideration ground level planning requirements and constraints.
The planning capabilities of RAJUK should be strengthened and in spite of the apparent weaknesses, it was agreed that with proper capacity building, it can play an important role in the urban planning process of Dhaka.
However, the group also agreed that RAJUK should not be responsible for both planning in the area as well as in developing projects. This was viewed as being in conflict of interest. It was pointed out RAJUK was more keen on development as it yielded more revenues.
A pressing need was felt by the group to improve coordination between RAJUK and the various sectoral and utility organisations that play a role for the development of Dhaka city.
Group discussions as a part of the Technical Session in progress
Group B: Engagement of Stakeholders in Urban Planning
Three levels of engagement were proposed by the group:
• National level for developing policies and guidelines in urban planning for the country; • Regional Level – DMDP for developing regional level plans based on a national strategy; and • Lastly, local level engagement through ward-committees and other mechanism;
There was consensus that Television was the media of choice for creating awareness amongst the Bangladesh masses and this media was never used to let people know what was being proposed for DAPs. The recommendation was to make se of this media for awareness building and seeking feedback. Other media like Internet websites should also be effectively utilized for seeking feedback.\
There was a strong need felt for building awareness among all sections of society including government agencies, NGOs and public on environmental sensitive areas and how the unplanned infrastructure development was causing problems on several front including water pollution, floods, poor air quality etc.
This was felt necessary for the public to effectively provide feedback as well as fight the system to ensure this does not go on.