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The Agargaon area at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka is turning into the administrative capital of the country with the construction of one after another headquarters of various government agencies, directorates and departments.
Most of these government offices have sprouted up during the last one and a half decades on the northern side of the Agargaon-Shishumela road where the biggest slum in the capital, the BNP Bazar slum, was once located.
At present, the Agargaon-Shishumela road, stretching from the Agargaon intersection in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar to the Shishumela intersection in Shyamoli, is being upgraded from a two-lane to a 150-foot wide six-lane road, with an aim to ease traffic movement in the flourishing administrative hub where headquarters of over 30 government agencies and several government hospitals have already been established.
Sujan Miah, a rickshaw puller who once lived in the BNP Bazar slum, has witnessed the gradual transformation of the area beside the Agargaon-Shishumela road, officially Syed Mahbub Morshed Sarani, from a vast slum into the administrative hub of the country.
He told The Business Post, “I have been living in the Agargaon area for the last 40 years. The change is unimaginable. When I came here first as a young boy, the whole area was unused lowland with only a handful of makeshift house. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the area turned into a huge slum.”
“Even during the last BNP government’s tenure, the slum was there with its narrow alleys and hundreds of makeshift houses. After the slum was evicted in 2006/2007, the vast area turned into huge lowland with small swamps here and there,” he reminisced, adding that the construction of the government offices started then filling up the swamps.
“The major change was brought with the opening of the 60-feet road. One after another government offices and hospitals started sprouting up on the northern side of the Agargaon–Shishumela road and both sides of the 60-foot road. The change brought about in the area in the last decade is beyond imagination,” the sexagenarian observed.
According to sources concerned, shifting the government officials to the Agargaon in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar is not a sudden decision; rather it was made a long time ago. It took almost 50 years to implement the decision.
Urban planners said the designer of the National Parliament, Louis I Kahn, kept the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area for the construction of government offices in future. It was included in RAJUK’s DAP as well.
In 2018, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) undertook a Tk 55 crore project to widen the Agargaon-Shishumela road. After completion of the project, the road will have five bus bays and passenger shades on both sides of the road, spacious sidewalks, a median, bicycle lanes, roadside parking, and a host of other facilities.
Currently, there are 10 government hospitals, about 25 government offices, several educational institutions, five museums, and various government and non-government institutions in the area. Construction of a dozen of government offices is underway.
Dhaka Shishu Hospital, National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR), National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital, National Institute of Kidney Diseases, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Neurosciences & Hospital and Tuberculosis Hospital are all situated in the area.
Moreover, headquarters of various government departments including the National Board of Revenue, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority, Islamic Foundation, Election Commission, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission, Parjatan Bhaban, Department of Environment, National Library and Bangladesh Film Archive is also situated in the area.
Faruque Hassan Md Al Masud, a DNCC regional executive engineer and also the director of the road widening project, told The Business Post that several roads, including Syed Mahbub Morshed Sarani, are being upgraded to ease traffic movement in the administrative hub of Agargaon. “Over 5-kilometre stretch of roads in or around Agargaon area are being upgraded under the project that is costing over Tk170 crore,” he said.
“The road widening project started in July last year and is scheduled to end in March 2023. But the reconstruction of the road is expected to be completed within January 2023,” he said, adding, “Once the project is implemented, the outlook of the whole area will change totally.”
Project sources said that there will be five bus bays on both sides of the road, and passengers will not have to face problems in getting on and off the bus as before. Commuters in the area have been suffering from huge traffic for a long time and they are hoping that the reconstruction would ease the traffic.
Besides pedestrians, thousands of patients and their relatives who come to the hospitals in the area every day will be benefitted from the widening of the road, they hoped.
The missing puzzle to be solved soon
While over 30 government and non-government offices are established in the area, accommodation problem is becoming the major problem in the administrative hub.
Three 15-storied buildings in Taltola area in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar and eight 15-storied buildings beside the Government Music College in Agargaon have already been constructed to resolve the accommodation issue of the staff of the government departments in the area.
But, several government officials claimed, the accommodation crisis is still prevailing.
“To solve the problem, a government officer-staff compound would be constructed at the northern side of Planning Commission office where currently a staff quarter is situated,” said Aminul Islam, Public Works Department sub-assistant engineer of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar circle -3.
There would be 26 residential buildings, a school, car parking spaces and a shopping complex inside the compound, he said, adding that the proposal is now awaiting approval from the government.
Few parking spaces might create problem
Urban specialist Prof Dr Nazrul Islam said the shifting of government administration to Agargaon had to be carried out today or tomorrow. But to construct the buildings they have filled the natural reservoirs of the area.
Many buildings are yet to be constructed. For example, the University Grant Commission (UGC) is demanding land for their accommodation. And if they get the approval, they would have to feel the reservoir beside their office as well, he noted.
If all the reservoirs are filled up, it will create water-logging in the area during the rainy season, he opined.
The professor apprehended that the area would face severe traffic congestion as there are few parking spaces, compared to the huge number of government offices.
