The unplanned growth, uncoordinated activities and unabated environmental pollution of capital Dhaka may cost more than four percent of Bangladesh's GDP, World Bank environmental specialists warned Thursday.
The observation was made at a "Consultation Workshop of Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) of Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan" in Hotel Sheraton, private news agency UNB reported.
The workshop called for strong coordination among the concerned government agencies and strategic urban planning for Dhaka to promote environmentally sustainable growth of the capital as well as the country.
According to World Bank environmental specialists, greater Dhaka currently represents more than 40 percent of Bangladesh's national GDP. The capital is undergoing a massive expansion and its current population of 12 million would reach 20 million by 2020, making it the world's third largest city.
"The overall urban planning process should take strategic planning principles into account to prevent the high risk of flooding to certain fringe areas of the Dhaka Metropolitan Plan, which are likely to be further aggravated by climate change impacts in the medium to long term," World Bank country director Xian Zhu said.
The SEA study said the unplanned urbanization has raised two sets of environmental challenges in Dhaka city. The first arises from urban development projects in different sectors and industries, which treat potential environmental effects as externalities and only try to mitigate these effects as an afterthought and do not include it as an integral part of their project.
The second set of environmental issues stems from the acute pressure on natural resources resulting from the indiscriminate use or misuse of these resources, the study said.
The government undertook the SEA, supported by the World Bank, to underpin the complex interactions between environmental, social, economic and institutional factors linked to the urban planning and development of the capital.
Source: Xinhua
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