Involuntary Relocation Process of Local People Due to Private Land Development Projects: A Study of Eastern Fringe Area of Dhaka City

*S.M. Shah Mahmood and Md. Moynul Ahsan* 

### **Abstract**

 The relocation process of local people due to private residential land development projects is one of the growing concerns in Dhaka City, the capital of Bangladesh. Although relocation is a complex issue, this study has unfolded the process of local people relocation in the Eastern Fringe Area of Dhaka City. This study has selected four renowned housing projects from four different real estate and land development companies such as Ashiyan City, Green Model Town, United City, and Pink city. A number of indicators were studied to get information about the relocation process that have been gathered from literature reviews, discussions with experts, and field survey. Approximately 3920 families were identified as relocated families from these project areas. It has been found that four actors such as land developers, middleman or muscleman, local officials, and local people played a vital role in land transformation process. The study concluded that "Thayer Scudder's Four-stage Framework Model" can be applicable for initial planning and development stage of housing projects, and government should prepare specific guidelines for the relocation process of local people.

**Keywords:** Dhaka city, eastern fringe, involuntary relocation, land development project, local people

#### **1. Introduction**

Real estate and land development projects sometimes require involuntary relocation of local people from their living or working place. This type of relocation left affected people no option but to rebuild their lives, incomes, and asset bases elsewhere known as involuntary resettlement [1]. Multiple factors behind involuntary dislocation are natural disasters; ethnic, religious, or political conflicts; and development projects [2]. But the process that follows this relocation should be well identified to formulate adequate policy and purposive actions and to reduce the negative effects of relocation. Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh is experiencing high rate of urbanization. Private sector is significantly involved in land and housing sector development in Dhaka city. About 77 private land developer companies are registered with RAJUK (The Capital Development Authority of Dhaka) under Private Residential Land Development Rules, 2004 and these companies land

development projects belongs to the jurisdiction of RAJUK area. However, The city areas of Dhaka and its fringe areas are experiencing continuous land use development by these real estate companies [3, 4].

 Generally, land is considered as a product and is controlled by a specific class of land owners, especially richest class [5, 6]. For poor farmers or middle or lower middle class land owners, it is tough for many individuals to keep hold over one's own land in the city of Dhaka, especially in its fringe areas. A loss of occupation, social network, and physical dislocation can result when fringe people are dislocated from their own land. On the other hand, to buy a small piece of land to build a house in the urban fringe area, a middle or lower middle class individual invested his whole life's savings. The middle and working class people are not capable of buying land within the city limit. As a result, they become land less in the city areas, therefore, they have to purchase land at the periphery of the city where land price is cheap [7].

 To ensure the reasonable sharing of cost and benefit of development projects among the residents, it is necessary to study the consequences of involuntary resettlement in the life and livelihood of the affected people. The decision to shift one's residence is voluntary and involuntary [1]. In case of voluntary shift, people move away for reasons ranging from better economic opportunities to a safe social or natural environment [1]. As the displacement of local people took place through a complex process, a detailed investigation was conducted on the issue of safety, freedom of expression, compensation, and living environment during the displacement process faced by the local residents of the study areas who were mostly involuntarily displaced by the private land developers. In this backdrop, the research aimed to study the process of relocation of local people due to land development projects.

From theoretical perspective, two models such as Thayer Scudder's Four-stage Framework Model and Michael M Cernea's Impoverishment Risk and Resettlement Model [8] are found more prominent in involuntary resettlement research. Among these models, "Thayer Scudder's Four-stage Framework Model" helps to explain the reasons of resettlers that can be expected to achieve during a resettlement process. Scudder (2005) defines the four-stage framework as: (a) planning and recruitment stage; (b) multidimensional stress and initial coping; (c) economic and community redevelopment; and (d) handing over of local governance and incorporation into the larger society. Scudder [10] considered first stage as Planning and Recruitment stage. This stage deals with activities related to the pre-resettlement period, such as planning for the removal, rehabilitation, and development of the people. Next stage is Coping and Adjustment stage where adjustments that take place in order to adapt to the new environment such as new neighbors, new economic activities, rising expenses, and the host population. Community Formation and Economic Development takes in third stage. Here community formation activities and constructing various religious structures and common infrastructure is established for relocated people. Successful integration of relocated populations into a regional or national political economy will bring an end to the relocation process in Stage Four [9]. On the other hand, Cernea's IRR model has identified the causes of impoverishment and its interrelation with resettlement where government and humanitarian agencies need to impose preplanned packages for resettlement [8].

#### **2. Selection of study area and data collection approach**

In this research, 5% of private land developers, who have land projects in Dhaka City are included. As the total number of real estate is 77, therefore, four land developers' land projects were considered for survey. Therefore, four housing projects were selected for this study according to the size of the project from the

#### *Involuntary Relocation Process of Local People Due to Private Land Development… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.87836*

 year 2000 to 2010. In this selection process, the land projects approved by RAJUK were considered for this research. Again, publications from various government and non-government organizations, daily newspaper sources were used for collecting the list of land projects of all the registered land developers from the year of 2000 to 2010. Then top four land projects according to the size were considered for this research. Finally, four land projects selected for the study such as Green Model Town (200 hectare) of Amin Mohammad Foundation Ltd., United City (73.33 hectare) of Neptune Land Development Ltd., Pink City (120 hectare) of Xenovally, and Ashiyan City (466.67 hectare) of Ashiyan Land Development Ltd.

Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources to fulfill the objectives of the research. In order to obtain the objectives of this research, several methods of data collection and analysis were adopted. This research required primary data because there was no previous study conducted on relocation of local people due to private housing projects. Therefore, a questionnaire survey conducted to collect data on relocated people, to explore the relocation process of local people. Relocation process of local people can be understood through various analytical procedures. Therefore, to get information about the relocation process, a number of indicators were studied such as original place of settlement, duration of living in original settlement, influential actors, factors that influenced relocation process, selling procedure, sale price of the land in original settlement, satisfaction of the owner regarding selling price, financial resources transfer procedure, utilization of financial resources, nature of pressure faced by the local residents in land transfer process, duration of stay in new place, factors influencing the choice of the new place, distance from original location, etc. The indicators selected for this study were gathered from literature reviews and discussions with experts.

There was no authentic information and specific number of relocated families in any government offices. It was a challenging task of this research to find out the information of relocated families. Though original local residents sold their land and moved to different places, some local people still lived around the projects areas and provided the information about relocated families. At first, survey team collected information from those people who lived in surrounding areas of selected land projects. By this way, approximately 3920 families were identified as relocated families who had land in project areas. To achieve 95% confidence level and confidence interval 5, at least 350 questionnaires were conducted. Sometimes questionnaire survey could not answer some issues in details which gathered through case study. Therefore, this research used both qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection.

Case studies from local people both relocated and existing localities (surrounding areas of selected land projects) who were under pressure by land developers were conducted to portray the real scenarios in these four land projects. Secondary data included relevant literature like published and unpublished thesis, study reports, journals, books, newspapers, magazines, research publications, seminar paper, ordinance/policy, etc. related to this research topic. Information on housing projects was collected from relevant government offices of land developers and advertisements published in media and webportals.

#### **3. Actors in land transformation process**

This study have found four main actors played a vital role for land transformation process. They are land developers, middleman/muscleman, local officials, and local people. Each actor played a specific role in land transformation process that are discussed below.

#### **3.1 Land developer**

The land development activities in Dhaka City started in the decade of 1980. Initially, the investment in this sector was made by the largest real estate companies of Bangladesh such as Banasree Residential Area by Islam Group, Bashundara City by Bashundhara Group for gaining profit. Private Land and Real Estate firms may not have the privilege and coercive powers of state land acquisition. But they have stronger financial foundation and can secure political backing. These enable them to subordinate relevant governance arrangements and deploy strong arm techniques in securing land in their own terms. As a result, not only financial resources but also other techniques have played as capital for this business. In this study, land developers played or have been playing a number of techniques for buying land.

From secondary literatures, it has been found that the owner of the Ashiyan City was first involved with Bashundhara City as a middleman, who managed the land purchasing process from the local people. Understanding the techniques of land acquisition process, the owner of the Ashiyan City started Ashiyan City project. A resident of Barua village at Ashkona, Dakkhinkhan alleged that the owner of the Ashiyan City initially bought 5 Bigha (<0.67 hectare) land in that village. Later, he laid claim to 500 Bigha (67 hectare) land and started land development work there. The developer of Ashiyan City established his office in his own village and formed his own group with local young political party leaders to buy local people's lands. From field investigation, it has been found that the political support and existing muscleman power makes smooth activity of Ashiyan City. Ashiyan City has been widely reported in media for its land grabbing and forced land purchases. However, the land gaining process are somewhat same by the Green Model Town, a project developed by Amin Mohammad Group. Here, the developer did not actively play any role to acquire the land, rather they engaged middlemen for forceing land owners to sell land. A site office inside the Green Model Town project operates their activities in an easy way. The Neptune Land Development Ltd. of United Group has implemented the United City project. United City authority did not actively play any role to acquire the land. They mainly engaged middlemen for the acquisition of land. From field investigation, it was informed that most of the lands were sold to the corporate group staff, politician, and high professional people. For example, the employers of City Bank bought a large portion of lands from the United City authority. As a consequence, United City authority received a large amount of money at a time and could implement their project very quickly. Again, the owner of the Pink City is a politician. At first, the authority of the Pink City started their journey to set up the land development project on their owned 10 Bigha (13.38 hectare) of land and acquired the surrounding land with the help of local muscleman. Due to lack of the political support, the activity of acquiring land by Pink City has stopped.

#### **3.2 Middleman/muscleman**

Middleman/muscleman is the person who creates connection between land developers and local people. From field investigation, it was found that usually middlemen/muscleman are the local residents who have good knowledge about over all local conditions. It was informed by local people that in most of the cases, middlemen/muscleman were involved with ruling political party to get the political favor. This situation is same for all regimes. They sometimes act as the middleman who collect land from local people at low price and sell to the developer at a higher price. In most of the cases, middlemen get a percentage from land developers after he negotiates a deal between the developer and the land owner. Similarly, in some

*Involuntary Relocation Process of Local People Due to Private Land Development… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.87836* 

cases, muscleman acquires land through illegal procedure by using unwanted force. From field experience, it was found that sometimes middleman acts as representative of developer at root levels. For example, land developers get defective land papers and other related information of the local people from muscleman/ middleman.

 In some cases, land developers engaged with the local muscleman to threat and pressurize the local people for selling their land. From field investigation, it was found that although muscleman had a social connection with previous local people, they did not show any favor for them. Muscleman conduct their activities to gain benefit within short time. In this procedure even the relatives of the muscleman were not excused from the land acquisition. For example, Mr. Jamal Sikder, 43, worked as a middleman for Ashiyan City. He pressurized his neighbors' to sell their land to developer. He added that even his cousin was also pressurized for selling land. He also added that without immoral activities, there was no chance to become a rich person within a short time. Relocated people also informed that local muscleman always came from unprivileged family and developer's pursuation and financial offer easily motivated them to work with land developer. So they always tried to provide maximum benefit of land developers. Local residents also mentioned that muscleman/middleman changed their lifestyle within few years they were involved with land developers. They can be considered as wealthy person and lived in aristocratic areas for their safety and dignity. Muscleman created their own group in root level to implement their defined activities. They also maintain connection with political leaders, local administratives, land officers, social influential persons, and young mobsters for continuing their activities without any interruption. **Figure 1** shows the linkage that muscleman has to maintain and this scenario was almost same in all areas. As a result, it can be said that muscleman/middleman plays a vital role in the land transformation process in the study area.

#### **3.3 Local officials**

 From focus group discussion and field experience, it can be said that the local administrative body always favored for land developers. At the same time, the land developers also used this tool (people believe) to create rumor among local people. As a consequence, most of the local people did not show any interest to take support from local administrative for avoiding unnecessary harassment. Survey team was interested to set interviews with the respective area's local Union Parishad Chairmans, but it was not possible for their lack of interest. Similarly, the officials of the land offices also played another vital role which ultimately provided support for the land developer's activities. For example, this information was collected from the local people that middleman used the process of "Commission Register" with the help of land office. As a result of that, the land registration was done in the land

**Figure 1.**  *Muscleman linkage.* 

**Figure 2.**  *Linkage among four actors.* 

 seller's house instead of office. This type of option used by land developers and local muscleman is a common phenomenon in study areas. Local unprivileged household expressed very negative aspects according to this issue. Sometimes muscleman pressurized local people to sell their land through "Commission Register". In most of the cases, local poor people had no option to refuse muscleman initiatives. Similarly, the land officers working in the government and private sector were provided land information to the muscle man and land developers. It is easier for the developers to get hold of several inheritances or dispute lands. In this process, land officers provide information about lands and middleman/muscleman arranges false documents for disputed piece of lands. Local people are well aware about those illegal activities done by local officials. Similarly, muscleman/middleman also tried to spread rumor that local officers are in favor for land developers. As a consequence, local officials (land officers and local administrative) activities discouraged people to take initiatives against land developer's illegal actions. So from above discussion, it can be said that local officials played as an actor in relocation process.

#### **3.4 Local people**

From the field investigation, it was found that the main occupation of local people in the previous area was agricultural. Most of the local people got their land through inheritance (81.4%). Most of the respondents in the sample survey lived in their original location more than 20 years. It is evident from the field investigation that the people of those areas were not aware of their rights. So middleman/ muscleman and land developers took advantage from the local people having lack of awareness. Linkage among four actors is shown in **Figure 2**.

#### **4. Major findings of land acquisition process from local people**

Land developers with the help of local muscleman and local officials used many techniques to buy land from local people. More or less same techniques were used by all land developers for acquiring local people's land. Here social status, political influence, and educational background of the people influenced developers to choose their techniques. **Figure 3** (Asian City), **Figure 4** (Green Model Town), **Figure 5** (United City), and **Figure 6** (Pink City) shows the land acquisition process of local people in broad scale for selected land projects.

It is evident from the field survey that the land acquiring process from the local people in four land development project contains some similar techniques but

*Involuntary Relocation Process of Local People Due to Private Land Development… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.87836* 

*Ashiyan City land acquisition process.* 

#### **Figure 4.**

*Green Model Town land acquisition process.* 

 not all of them are identical. All the developers treated the local people according to their size of land ownership, social status, political involvement, etc. All the developers used their political and social power to pressurize the land owners to sell their land but the extent varied. For example in case of Ashian City, the middle man used all the techniques to terrorize the local people to sell the land. On the other hand, Green Model Town used some techniques of negotiation such as they said the local people can cultivate their land for long time but when it was necessary they also used treat and pressure. **Figure 7** is a generalized diagram showing the typical land acquisition process.

#### *ISBS 2019 - 4th International Sustainable Buildings Symposium*

#### **Figure 5.**

*United City land acquisition process.* 

#### **Figure 6.**

*Pink City land acquisition process.* 

*Involuntary Relocation Process of Local People Due to Private Land Development… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.87836* 

**Figure 7.**  *Typical land acquisition process.* 

#### **5. Review and conclusion**

 Though both voluntary and involuntary procedures were used for relocation but this research outcome clearly showed that local people were mainly displaced from their original location through involuntary procedure. Four actors namely, land developers, local muscleman, local officials, and local people are being identified to actively play various roles in this relocation process. From survey findings, those local people who were not interested to sell their land used many strategies to save their land from developers. After getting land selling finance from the developers, people search new place for living and prime consideration was job opportunity. Local people tried to live within short distance from their original location which ultimately showed their strong belongings with the existing localities.

It can be concluded that suitable relocation in private land development projects should follow some stages like "Thayer Scudder's Four-stage Framework Model" in 2005 [10] because Scudder's study and the existing study found some major causes of failure of resettlement such as (a) failure to involve those to be displaced in the planning process, (b) failure to provide real opportunities for improvements in living standards for the displaced populations, (c) insufficient funding, (d) lack of resettlement staff expertise and experience, and (e) lack of political will by government and the project authorities to follow through on resettlement plans and promises. Again, it has been found from field investigation of four land developers that different techniques have used for acquiring land without considering the right of the local people. Land developers had followed their own strategies. Social status, political involvement, and educational background of local people influenced developer to select their strategies. Again, Scudder's Planning and Recruitment stage should be considered in Eastern fringe case because activities relating to pre-resettlement period is very important. In resettlement process, community formation activities and constructing various religious structures and common infrastructure need to be established for relocated people. According to Scudder's model, successful integration of relocated populations into a local, regional, or

#### *ISBS 2019 - 4th International Sustainable Buildings Symposium*

 national political economy will bring an end to the relocation process in the fourth stage of the framework model. But this research findings show that there had no specific pre-resettlement plan for local people from land developers. Similarly, coping and adjustment in new location regarding environment, social condition, and economic activities were not considered for relocated people. Likewise, there had no provision for community formation activities and construction of various religious structures for relocated people. From the research finding, it can be said that the process of relocation could not be defined in an exact way as it varied from place to place, developer to developer, people to people, time to time, and society to society in selected four land projects. There were no specific guidelines for local people relocation from their original location. As a consequence, local people relocated from their original location though various procedure by land developers. Land developers with the help of local muscleman and officials' displaced local people without any humanity, only monetary matters are considered. As a result, local people rights are not properly maintained in relocation process. Therefore, there need to prepare and implement adequate relocation guidelines which should ensure the right of the local people by the real estate developers.

#### **Author details**

S.M. Shah Mahmood1 and Md. Moynul Ahsan<sup>2</sup> \*

 1 New York City Department of Environmental Protection Police, New York, USA

2 Department of Real Estate Development and Management, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey

\*Address all correspondence to: moynulurp01@gmail.com

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

*Involuntary Relocation Process of Local People Due to Private Land Development… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.87836* 

#### **References**

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[2] Adesina A. Socio-Spatial Transformations and the Urban Fringe Landscape in Developing Countries. Munich, Germany: United Nation University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-UHS) Summer Academy on Social Vulnerability and Resilience Building in Mega City; 2007

[3] Haque KNH. The Political Economy of Urban Space: Land and Real Estate in Dhaka City. IGS Working Paper Series No. 03/2012. Bangladesh: Institute of Governance Studies, BRAC University; 2012

[4] Ahsan MM, Rahman MH. In: Jahan S, Abul Kalam AKM, editors. Environmental Impact of Rapid Urban Growth in Dhaka Megacity: A Case Study of Bhatara Union in Dhaka Metropolitan Development Area and Its Planning Problems, Issues and Policies. Bangladesh Institute of Planners [Internet]; 2013. Available from: http:// www.bip.org.bd/SharingFiles/journal\_ book/20140427152157.pdf [Accessed: 2019-02-08]

[5] Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Authority. Revised Resettlement Action Plan. Dhaka: Report of Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Authority; 1993

[6] Alam MJ. Rapid urbanization and changing land values in mega cities: Implications for housing development projects in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Bandung Journal of Global South. 2018;**5**(2):2-17. DOI: 10.1186/s40728-018-0046-0

[7] Logan J, Molotch H. Urban Fortunes: The Political Economy of Place. Berkley: University of California Press; 1987

[8] Cernea M. The risks and reconstruction model for resettling displaced populations. World Development. 1997;**25**(10):1569-1587

[9] Fahmi WS. The Adaptation Process of a Resettled Community to the Newly-Built Environment a Study of the Nubian Experience in Egypt: A Study of the Nubian Experience in Egypt. Boca Raton, USA: Dissertation.Com; 2014. pp. 64-76

[10] Scudder T. The Future of Large Dams Dealing with Social, Environmental, Institutional and Political Costs. London; 2005

**349**

**Chapter 30**

**Abstract**

Sustainable Cultural and Natural

Strategic Planning Process in a

Development and Governance

Model Proposal: Example of Core

Cities, which are all of the natural and sociocultural values that determine their identity, are considered as living organisms. The transfer of the original identities of the cities to the future is possible with the efforts of local, regional, and national actors. Similarly, the preservation and transferal of historical cities, which are the world heritage sites, to future generations, is associated with the sustainability of cultural and natural values. The Cappadocia Site, which was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985, has been hosting the tangible and intangible cultural heritage treasure with unique examples in Turkey for centuries. However, policies for the conservation of intangible assets in this site seem to be insufficient. This study aims to establish an individual, social, and institutional sustainability associations network focused on integrated cultural and natural heritage in the Core Cappadocia Site. For this purpose, fundamental problems and potentials of the site, which underlies the planning, have been detected. Observational and survey methods were implemented in the fieldwork, and secondary data on the subject were collected from the relevant institutions. Using the implemented methods and obtained data, "Spiral Sensitivity Model" was proposed to establish an individual, social, and institutional network of sustainable associations in integrated cultural

**Keywords:** sustainability, cultural and natural heritage, spatial strategic planning,

The city identity is a broad concept of distinct components for each city and emphasizes social, economic, environmental, and cultural characteristics that allow a space to be distinguished from another [1]. In this respect, the natural and built

Heritage-Oriented Spatial

Cappadocia Site

heritage oriented site management.

Core Cappadocia Site, governance

**1. Introduction**

*Özlem Köşker, Arzuhan Burcu Gültekin,* 

*Gizem Hayrullahoğlu and Enis Yeter*

#### **Chapter 30**
