Dhaka's Footpaths are illegally encroached and inadequately planned for a long time. There have been attempts to make Dhaka walkable, but issues still hinder progress.
Dhaka is a megacity having around 10.2 million residents. In spite of having a large number of pedestrians, the current condition of footpaths in Dhaka city is miserable. The area of the two city corporations is approximately 360 square kilometres. But, footpaths are available only in 400 kilometres of roadway out of the total 3,000 kilometres of roadway network, which is only 13.33% of the total network. Footpaths in Dhaka are usually made of concrete, brick or pavement tiles, aggregate-sand base, and sand-base or concrete base. It cannot ensure the needed quality. Collapsed sidewalks, improper slope, transverse crack, missing concrete slab, utility cut holes, surface deformation are the regular parts of footpaths.
10.2 Million Residents
Population of Dhaka City Corporation
360 Square Kilometres
Area of Dhaka City Corporation
400 KM Footpaths
Out of 3,000 KM roadways
Though over the time the situation has improved, the current condition is still not adequate to ensure smooth pedestrian walkability. In recent years, several projects have been taken up to develop the sidewalks and footpaths in Dhaka. Still, the effectiveness of many projects are not that much visible due to a lack of coordination between relevant authorities.
Occupation by Different Quarters - Status Quo of Dhaka's Footpaths
In Dhaka, 19.8% of the trips are made by foot. On the other hand, the percentage is 37.2% in the Dhaka metropolitan area (excluding DNCC). Moreover, 93% of the total population walk or use public transport or bicycles. But maximum plans and projects are taken prioritising cars. Everyday 67 cars are registered here and the current number of cars is above 300 thousand. The illegal parking of cars on footpaths hinders pedestrians in walking. Even after imposing laws regarding illegal parking, these laws are disregarded.
37.2% of the Total Trips
Made by foot (excluding DNCC)
93% of the Total Population
Walk or Use Public Transport or Bicycles
67 New Cars
Registered Everyday
300 Thousands +
Total Number of Cars
Most of the city footpaths in Dhaka are now occupied with illegal business operations, waste dumps, construction materials or parking lots.
The policemen, political leaders and influential people rent out the footpath for their own benefits. As a result, 40% of the footpaths of Dhaka are occupied by the hawkers. These seized portions of roads and footpaths not only create discomfort, but risk accidents as well.
It is said that several government agencies, including Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited and Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited, implementing development projects occupied footpaths unlawfully. Footpaths are occupied in most of the city areas, including Azimpur, Nilkhet, Elephant Road, Lalbagh, Gulistan, Hazaribagh, Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur, Shymoli, Mirpur, Tejgaon, Karwan Bazar, Badda, Motijheel commercial area and Dilkusha commercial area and Uttara.
Footpaths at Mirpur’s 60 Feet, Mirpur-10, Kazipara and Shewrapara along with Nilkhet, Gulistan and Hazaribagh are in the worst possible situation.
Policemen and political party workers seek rents from hawkers on a regular basis to let them run their businesses. This creates illegal blockage in footpaths of Dhaka city.
On the other hand, there are no specific national policies regarding footpaths and sidewalks. Bangladesh is in need of a national footpath policy. A national policy can help establish pedestrian-friendly and people-oriented sidewalks. If there is a road, there should be a proper sidewalk as well. Moreover, there is no dedicated agency to design, maintain, and improve city footpaths. However, 13 agencies within five ministries have divided responsibilities towards the pedestrian environment.
13 Agencies
Have Divided Responsibility
5 Ministries
Run the Agencies
The government has instructed the concerned authorities to solve this problem but the results are not visible. Even though the authority works with mobile courts on a regular basis, a sustainable solution is yet to be found.
Existing Law Regarding the Illegal Occupation
According to the Government and Local Authority Lands and Buildings Ordinance, 1970, ‘land’ means any land which vests in, or is owned by, or is in the possession or under the management and control of, the Government or Local Authority and includes any water. Footpaths fall under land according to this definition. In the metropolitan area, the City Corporation and outside the metropolitan area, the Union Parishad is in charge of maintenance of footpaths under the Local Government Act, 2009.
City Corporation, Metropolitan Authority of Union Parishad
Authority of Footpaths
Deputy Commissioner or Authorised Officer
May Issue Notice to Vacate Land in 30 Days
Under this Ordinance, if the Deputy Commissioner or other authorised officer is certain about unauthorised occupant of such land, he may issue a notice directing such person to vacate the land or any part of the land, within the period of thirty days from the date of service of the notice. But this period can be reduced for public interest.
Even after such notice, if any person, illegally occupying a footpath, refuses or fails to vacate the area, the deputy commissioner can recover possession of the footpath by evicting the illegal occupants or demolition structures.
According to the law, such illegal occupation shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or with fine which may extend to Taka one thousand or with both. Moreover, such offence shall be cognizable and shall be considered non-bailable offence. The concerned authority can also impose additional fines on the person if any damage is caused by him.
Standard Design for Sidewalks
There are many reasons why the footpaths and sidewalks in Dhaka city are not pedestrian-friendly. One of the core reasons is the unwillingness to follow the standard design of footpaths.
Building's Front Portion
Eight-foot Space
Walking Zone
Eight-foot Space
Space for Plants
Four-foot Space
4-6 Inches
Raiser from the Road to the Footpath
According to global urban design standards, the walkways should have definite three portions. These are: A building’s front portion, which can be an eight-foot space, working as the building’s buffer zone. Another eight-foot space as the walking zone, which should serve as only the pedestrian walking area. Finally, there should be a four-foot space for plants and other furnishings. But Dhaka has no such designated zones and most of the structures land on the walkways.
Walkways should have slopes up and down in a walking ratio of 1:20 between building entrances and other nodes. Moreover, the raiser from the road to the footpath should be 4-6 inches at max. But, no such rules are followed during the construction of footpaths in Dhaka city. The uneven height and cracked surfaces can cause discomfort and accidents while walking.
There should be resting areas in footpaths after a particular distance. But there are no adequate resting areas in Dhaka city. Rather, footpaths are occupied with illegal vendors.
Budget Allocation for Development
The Dhaka North City Corporation spent BDT 1.9 billion for the development of roads, footpaths and surface drains in the fiscal year 2020-2021. On the other hand, the Dhaka South City Corporation spent BDT 78.4 million for the same cause in the same fiscal year.
৳ 3 Billion Proposed Budget
Dhaka North
৳ 1 Billion Proposed Budget
Dhaka South
The DNCC had also proposed a budget of BDT 3 billion in the fiscal year 2021-2022. On the other hand, the proposed budget by the DSCC was BDT 1 billion. The DNCC mayor wanted to follow a model like that of Kolkata, Hong Kong or Thailand for the development of footpaths.
The DSCC had taken a project in 2021 of BDT 2.6 billion to rehabilitate damaged roads and develop drains and footpaths as well. Moreover, 4.106 kilometres of footpaths were constructed in DSCC areas in the financial year 2020-2021.
Steps Taken to Improve the Footpaths and Sidewalks of Dhaka City
14 Core Targets
Including guidelines for standardisation of streetscape characters
In 2015, the GoB took up the Dhaka Structure Plan 2016-2035. It is a long term plan to transform Dhaka with 14 core objectives. The 12th objective is about the guidelines for standardisation of streetscape characters. It seeks to improve street conditions by building frontages; installing street lights, signage and traffic signals. The core aim behind this is to improve the walkability of Dhaka footpaths.
The implementing agencies behind this objective are the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, Ministry of Roads and Bridges, RAJUK, LGED, Directorate of Architecture, BWDB, Urban Local Governments, City Corporations and Municipalities.
The Detailed Area Plan (DAP) 2022-2035 is an extended version of the previous project. It envisions creating an urban lifeline and a healthy city life revolving around footpaths. It plans to establish resting benches, along with standard walkways on the footpaths.
The DNCC and DSCC rebuilt the pavements and footpaths of Dhaka with tactile paving for the blind and visually impaired pedestrians.
Under this project, the authority built textured yellow tiles in the middle of the footpaths, and a blister surface on the edges, so that visually impaired people can understand the approaching street. The yellow tiles are placed at the centre with the red tiles on either side. The yellow ones have four vertical raised lines that serve as warnings. The block patterns in red tiles work as a code while walking. At the end of the footpath, the 6×6 dot patterns of yellow tiles indicate a change ahead.
Moreover, slopes were also built on the sidewalks.
The city corporations took this initiative in 2016 and under this initiative, many sidewalks were rebuilt.
But this project couldn’t help the visually impaired people that much because of the vertical irons and short poles installed on footpaths in the city by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police. These short poles are installed to prevent illegal parking and motorcyclists from using the footpaths. But these are hindering the free movements for the visually impaired. Lack of coordination between city corporations and DMP created this problem.
During the split of the city corporations, there were 86 passenger sheds in the DSCC area. On the other hand, DNCC had 129 passenger sheds, of which 114 were allocated from the city corporation. BRTC, Roads and Highways department built the remaining 15 sheds.
86 Passenger Sheds
In DSCC Area during the Split
129 Passenger Sheds
In DNCC Area during the Split
130 Passenger Sheds Initiated
In 2019
10 Passenger Sheds Initiated
In 2021 under CASE Project
In 2019, the city corporation authorities took an initiative to build 130 passenger sheds, 70 in Dhaka South and 60 in North City.
Furthermore, by 2021, DNCC constructed nine and DSCC constructed 10 passenger sheds under the Clean Air and Sustainable Environment (CASE) project. Under this project, the sheds were supposed to have tea stalls, drinking water, charging points and free WiFi. But such facilities are yet to be established.
However, Dhaka South completed the construction of 30 sheds under its infrastructure development project. The construction work of another 33 passenger sheds are also ongoing under the same project. The total project is worth BDT 65 million
In October, 2020, Rajuk initiated a project to build three-lane footpaths along with different regional routes to improve pedestrian movability. According to the draft of the DAP, the width of the footpaths for type-1 regional connectivity road, in which total width of the road is more than 170 feet, will be 25 feet wide on each side.
In case of type- 2 and type-3 regional connectivity roads, where the total width of roads are from 100 to 170 feet, there will be 15 feet wide footpaths on both sides of the road.
The width of the footpaths will be further extended or shortened depending on the total width of the road. The footpaths will be constructed on one side of the narrow roads and on both sides of Mirpur, Gulshan, Banani, Uttara, Manik Mia Avenue, Bijoy Sarani and other areas of Dhaka.
There will be three parts in the footpaths.
3 ft Frontage Zone
It is the extended part of the building.
6 to 12 ft Through Route
For Pedestrians
3 to 4.5 ft Utility Zone
It will be used for electric poles, benches for sitting, greenery and bi-cycle parking. If there is enough space, then these modern footpaths will be built in other local roads as well.
In January, 2021, the DNCC authority initiated a new development project worth BDT 3.19 billion to construct 47 new footbridges and install 16 escalators in existing eight footbridges. The project was approved by the ECNEC in October, 2020 and the project completion deadline was 31 December, 2023.
47 New Footbridges
Deadline - 31 December, 2023
16 Escalators
In 8 existing bridges
Under this project, one footbridge will be built at Kuril, five at Uttara, one at Pallabi, six at Mirpur, four at Tejgaon-Mohakhali, two in Dhaka airport area, three at Gulshan, four at Badda-Rampura, one at Technical, one at Kachukhet, one on 60ft Road, two at Shyamoli, and five at Mohammadpur.
The escalators will be established at the bridges located at Kakoli, BAF Shaheen College, Shaheed Suhrawardy hospital, Adamjee Cantonment College, Combined Military Hospital, Shyamoli intersection, Mohakhali, and Pragati Sarani adjacent to East West University.
7.74 KM
Establishment of Medians
45.08 KM
Fencing on Sidewalks
14 KM Road
Renovation
26 KM Footpaths
Renovation
1710 Traffic Signs
Installation
9.05 KM Sidedrains | 6.58 KM Pipe Drains
For Waste Management
Thirteen types of work is to be done under the project, with a core focus on building foot over bridges. Establishment of medians on 7.74 kilometres of roads and grill fencing installation on sidewalks of 45.08 kilometres of roads is also initiated as a part of this project.
The project took steps to renovate about 14 kilometres of main roads and 26 kilometres of footpaths. Installation of 1,710 traffic signs, construction of 6.58 kilometres of pipe drains and 9.05 kilometres of side drains for waste management development are parts of this project as well.
In 2021, the DNCC established the Secondary Transfer Station, a garbage dumping station to improve waste management of the footpaths and sidewalks. The DNCC established 56 stations, measuring from 1500 to 4000 square feet. On the other hand, there are 62 secondary transfer stations in DSCC.
1500 to 4000 Sq. Ft
Measurements of Transfer Stations
No Parking Space
For Garbage Vans
Even though the installations of these STSs improved waste management, lack of proper planning created some major problems for pedestrians. It occupied the Natun Bazar to Pragati Sarani footpath. A part of the dumping station occupied the main road as well. Thus, small vehicles have to ply the road’s middle lane among cars and buses. This causes congestion in the footpath and risks the lives of pedestrians as well. In 2021, there were 22 vans under STS. But there is no parking space for the vehicles.
In 2021, the DNCC also created an app to bring parking under a unified management system. This app would help to collect tolls at 1570 parking areas under the DNCC. The timeline for the execution of the project was three months.
On March 6, 2022, the prime minister instructed the concerned authority to free up the Dhaka city footpaths for the free pedestrian movement. According to the official data, Dhaka South City Corporation constructed and developed 216.58-kilometre footpaths from 2018-2022. On the other hand, Dhaka North City Corporation constructed and developed 46.12 km of footpaths in 2020-2022, mainly in Mirpur.
Several initiatives have been taken to evict hawkers previously. But it was not effective. Under this situation, the DNCC initiated a project in October, 2022 to free up footpaths for pedestrians. This pilot project allows hawkers to operate only from 4 pm to 10 pm in designated areas. BRAC also partnered with DNCC to work on this project.
Most street vendors of Mirpur 10 already operate under this project. The city corporation also took an initiative to provide job opportunities to the street vendors not working other than 4-10 pm.
Under this project, hawkers could run shops five days a week. Other than the business hours, they couldn’t operate. This allowed the vendors only to run businesses with temporary shops.
After the initiation of the project, the sidewalks of Mirpur 10 area were actually free from the street vendors. For this project, the DNCC used an app named ‘Street Vendor Management in Public Space‘. There were around 2000 street vendors in that area. Public representatives were hired to manage the street vendors. Moreover, cleaning staff were also employed. Roads are also segmented into red, green and yellow zones, on the basis of how busy the roads are. The red zones are the busiest.
In November, 2022, the High Court directed relevant government authorities to stop leasing footpaths in Dhaka within seven days and to take legal action against offenders. The HC also ordered the government to constitute a five-member committee to identify those leasing out footpaths and submit a list of their names to the court in 60 days. HC also issued a rule asking officials concerned to explain in four weeks why their non-intervention to stop “selling and leasing” footpaths should not be declared illegal.
The road outside Tejgaon truck stand was being used for illegal parking of goods vehicles. In January, 2023, Dhaka North City Corporation took an initiative to build a separate lane for rickshaws and cycles by setting up metal bars to solve this problem. This step was taken to prevent illegal parking on the road from Saat Rasta to Karwan Bazar level crossing via the truck stand.
Metal barriers are also installed on sidewalks to separate lanes for rickshaws and non-motorized vehicles. This step increased the visibility of footpaths from roads that were previously blocked with parked vehicles.
In February, 2024, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) announced a plan to construct five elevated smart traffic police boxes in order to reduce the growing congestion caused by traditional traffic police boxes on footpaths and improve pedestrian flow. The five initial locations for the elevated boxes are: Mohammadpur Bus Stand, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital intersection, Khamarbari intersection, Tejgaon’s Love Road intersection, and Jahangir Gate.
The measurement of the boxes will be 200-300 square feet and costing will be approximately TK 30 lakh each. The project is estimated to be completed by June, 2024. The boxes will be equipped with modern facilities, monitoring systems, restrooms, washrooms and air conditioning.
However, the sustainability of this project remains a question. These boxes can create accessibility issues for traffic police officers in future.
For this project, there will be a collaborative approach from the DMP Traffic Department, City Corporations and RAJUK to identify further optimal locations. The DNCC authority plans on going for partnerships with private landowners to get a designated space for police officers.
The Bangladesh Bridge Authority installed an elevated box at Farmgate recently. This elevated box aims to aid DNCC’s proposed construction of the smart traffic police boxes. But, the DMP traffic department has advised to rethink the size and location of this box.
They further recommended the proper designing of the services at specific locations, keeping factors like traffic flow, personnel needs and facilities for female officers in mind. Recently, both City Corporations removed several traffic police boxes that obstructed pedestrian walkways.
Recommendations
- The city corporations need to make planned initiatives to ensure the effectiveness of the projects. The development of the sidewalks can be incorporated with the road management system for better maintenance and budget allocation as well.
- Even after having laws regarding illegal street vendors on footpaths, the laws are not implemented properly. Effective enforcement of the existing laws and having a national policy regarding this issue can help to mitigate this problem.
- Pedestrian networks should be properly connected to interfaces with the public transport system with the help of adequate routing and stops.
- A rehabilitation program for street vendors can ensure their financial safety and free up the sidewalks as well.
- Sky-walks can be established in important nodes connected to joining open spaces on either side of the road.
- There should be laws to prevent properties adjacent to the road to build solid walls higher than 2500 mm.
- The effective width of sidewalks are supposed to be 2.5m for larger roads and 2.25m for smaller roads. But in reality, only 60% of sidewalks are effective. There should be strict guidelines to maintain this structure.
About the Author
Umme Farzana Rupa, a former debater, currently excelling as a passionate student at Bangladesh University of Professionals. Engaging communicator and dedicated learner, she continues to thrive in academics, leaving her mark on campus with her inquisitive spirit and determination.