Ali Imam says land scarcity is biggest hurdle to development
Food and Land Adviser Ali Imam Majumder today said that land is required in every sector, from food production to housing, pointing to scarcity of land in the country. "All the development activities have to be carried out within limited land and this abnormal scarcity of land is the country's foremost challenge," he said while addressing a view-exchange workshop at a hotel here as the chief guest.
The Ministry of Land and the World Bank (WB) jointly organized the workshop titled "Enhancing Institutional Capacity in Land Acquisition and Strengthening Management Systems of Acquisition Activities in Bangladesh". The Land Adviser said that instances are still seen where land is acquired even in places where it is not actually needed and later used for other purposes. He noted that these challenges are multidimensional. Ali Imam Majumder said that among the reasons cited for delays in project implementation, a significant portion is related to the land acquisition process. He added that the person whose ancestral property is taken away through land acquisition understand how mentally painful the experience can be.
Highlighting the issue of land wastage, he said that one organization alone has more than 6,000 plots of unused land. He mentioned that one acre of land was acquired beside a road to build a guest house and such a large area was taken merely to make it look attractive. Also present at the event was Gail H. Martin, Operations Manager of the World Bank for Bhutan and Bangladesh. The welcome address was delivered by Md. Emdadul Haque Chowdhury, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Land.
The survey findings of the study titled 'Enhancing Institutional Capacity in Land Acquisition and Strengthening Management Systems of Acquisition Activities in Bangladesh' were presented by Dr. Hafiza Khatun of the Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS). The event was chaired by A S M Saleh Ahmed, Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Land.
