"Dhaka sprawled haphazardly as there was no detailed plan," said Toufiq M Seraj, president of REHAB (Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh).

Rajuk, the city developer, was to frame a DAP after Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP) was laid out in 1995. It is alleged that Rajuk was not committed to implementing DMP and DAP, both connected to building Dhaka in a planned fashion.

Officials say Rajuk was short of fund and initiated the DAP with his own fund budgeted at Tk 22 crore.

"We ran into red tape to launch the DAP. But the authorities have now realised the need for planned growth," said M Sirajul Islam, project in-charge and assistant town planner of Rajuk.

In line with the plan, Dhaka was divided into five zones and the project team is surveying areas as per the cadastral survey (the first land reform survey record).

Rajuk officials said they are attaching priority to increasing road-networking capacity that the master plan recommended.

Earlier, the DAP was scheduled to be complete between 2002 and 2004, but the project stalled because of fund shortage.

"We will be able to introduce the plan by 2006 which will clearly mark urban facilities including roads, parks, open spaces, playgrounds, wetlands, shopping malls and housing plots," the Rajuk official said.

The city developer called on city dwellers to provide information vital to making the DAP perfect.

"After completion of the DAP, town planners will be able to identify the road network or criteria needed to construct buildings in an area," he said.

"We appreciate Rajuk as it is introducing the detailed plan. We face a huge problem as the master plan was idle," Toufiq M Seraj said.