Urban planners criticise RAJUK, CAAB for allowing Milestone buildings near airport

Urban planners have categorically blamed the RAJUK and CAAB for allowing the construction and continued existence of Milestone School and College buildings as well as other populated establishments near the Dhaka airport.

The experts, united under Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP), expressed their concerns at a press briefing held at the Planners Tower in the capital on Friday.

They highlighted the risk factors in a report published in the wake of Monday’s deadly jet crash inside a Milestone School building in Uttara.

The airport-related building regulations have been ignored in both the existing 1995 Dhaka city urban plan, and in the proposed Detailed Area Plan (DAP), posing high risks to lives and properties. Therefore, both policies and practice are failing to reduce the risks.

It is ideal to keep other establishments far away from airports and air bases, even if they are structurally sound, said BIP Joint General Secretary Tamjidul Islam when elaborating the airport-related regulations.

Even if some establishments must be kept within four kilometres of the runway, these have to adhere to some strict regulations, the urban planner said, noting none of the establishments near Dhaka airport have followed these protocols.

The establishments will have to be below 150-feet in height and less-populated in nature.

Religious facilities, schools, hospitals and other establishments that naturally host huge gatherings must be kept away from the four-kilometre radius of the runway, he noted. However, such is hardly the case around the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

The populated establishments must be relocated, and the less populated ones must be trimmed down to meet height requirements.

Many of these may have passed in structural safety inspections, but they must urgently be aligned with airport-related regulations. Otherwise, the deaths from air disasters would continue.

BIP President Adil Muhammad Khan alleged that many of the buildings even failed in structural safety tests and the owners secured approval through power abuse and bribery, as have been customary in Bangladesh land management for decades.

Some of the Milestone school-college buildings, possibly including the one affected in Monday’s crash, also did not get the approval of structural soundness, he alleged.

When the airport was set up, the city limit was not even within sight. But, now Dhaka city has expanded, albeit arbitrarily. In 1995, the existing Dhaka city urban plan was approved, but then the Milestone School area was a wetland. Keeping the airport and the Kurmitola air base at their current places were justifiable then. However, in 2002, RAJUK and other relevant authorities approved landfilling in the area for the construction of school buildings, violating international standards.

Adil Muhammad Khan held former officials from RAJUK, Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh, Education Ministry, district administrator, and city corporation responsible for allowing the construction of school buildings, and for contributing to the deaths of over 30 school children in the jet crash.