Saturday 21 February 2015

Review on Private Residential Land Development Rule, 2004



Private Residential Land Development Rule (PRLDR) of 2004 came into effect with a gazette notification issued on March 1, 2004. This is a legal instrument for controlling land development in private sector housing in Bangladesh. It provides procedures and guidelines for land development protecting the environment.
Private Residential Land Development Rule 2004 is applicable for those areas which are included in Masterplan according to The Town Improvement Act,
1953 and The Building Construction Act, 1952. Chapter 1 of this rule enunciates some definition of relative terms. Chapter 2 enunciates initiator related registration process and registration of the Maker of Lay-out-plan. Chapter 3 mentions the General criteria of Private Residential Project Approval. Chapter 4 describes The Advisory process regarding a private residential project and Chapter 5 describes The Approval process of a private residential project. Chapter 6 mentions other related miscellaneous topics.
The Private Residential Land Development Rule 2004 provides percentages of land that must be kept for community facilities, amount of land to be sold out, school sites, road hierarchy and importantly planning standards, for example, allocation of land per 1000 population. In Schedule 3 of the Private Residential Land Development Rule 2004, Space Standards for Urban Community Facilities in acres by Population size are enunciating for the initiator of the private land development project. A private residential land development project is suitable for a living if the given space standards are followed. As per subsection 3 of section 9 of chapter 3 of the PRLDR 2004, Water bodies and flows within the project area should not be hampered and its area cannot be reduced. Thus, the existing section is safeguarded for preserving the natural water body and does not hamper the flood flow zone. Section 7 of chapter 3 describes the land ownership and rehabilitation of affected people due to the engaged project. This section ensures the original inhabitant about the ownership on their land which is a controversial issue since the beginning of the private land development Project.

Private residential land development rules 2004 provides a complete legal support for land development in private sector housing which permits 350 persons per acre though this standard is quite high compared with other megacities of the world. As per subsection 2 of section 11 of the PRLDR only provides that violation of the rule will be an offense and the authority shall take legal action. However, it prescribes no procedure for the institution of legal proceedings, which need to be addressed. Any legal measure is not prescribed in the PRLDR 2004 which can control the indiscriminate landfilling in the flood flow zones and low-lying areas of the city by private sectors. There is no provision of periodical revision of any project in PRLDR 2004. In Private residential land development rules, there is the limited provision of public participation. Therefore private developers are not willing to fulfill all requirement and standards in a land development project.


Private Residential Land Development Rule 2004 can be provided with an effective opportunity to regulate the unplanned development. With effective policies, regulations and the active participation of local people within a responsive administrative system unplanned land development can be controlled. It is expected that the development rules and restriction should not only be in the written document but also come into enforcement and practice.

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