Dhaka Planners Weigh Next Steps for Purbachal Plots and DCNUP Upgrades

RAJUK is moving forward with Purbachal New Town on 6,150 to 6,227 acres that will eventually contain 26,000 residential plots and 62,000 apartments spread across 19 sectors.

The scale of this single development, intended for one million residents, makes the immediate choices about road connections, utility phasing and plot allocation central to how the eastern fringe of Dhaka grows over the coming years. At the same time the five-year Dhaka City Neighborhood Upgrading Project, run by Dhaka South City Corporation with World Bank support, is already working on public spaces, traffic junctions and green areas in Kamrangirchar, Lalbagh, Sutrapur-Nayabazar-Gulistan and Khilgaon-Mugdha-Bashabo. These two efforts together set the practical questions that city agencies must answer next.

Connectivity and layout choices in Purbachal

Officials must decide how the 19 sectors will link to existing roads and to the planned Dhaka Metro Rail extension that is expected to improve access to Uttara near Shahjalal International Airport. Without clear sequencing, the 26,000 plots risk remaining isolated even after basic services arrive. Contemporary residential projects in formally planned zones have already shown a tendency to form homogeneous elite enclaves that limit traditional intermediate community spaces, a pattern that could repeat at Purbachal unless zoning rules preserve mixed-use pockets and through-routes.

New luxury addresses listed for 2026, including Sheltech Khan Legacy in Banani due for completion in 2028, ANZ Hoque Square in Badda and Shanta Holdings Atelier Complex, add pressure. The Atelier project is described as LEED-certified and reserves 40 percent of units for diplomatic staff, illustrating the type of restricted development that planners will have to balance against broader public access goals.

Targeted works under the DCNUP program

In the four neighborhoods covered by the Dhaka City Neighborhood Upgrading Project, the immediate tasks involve selecting specific junctions for traffic improvements and identifying sites for new green areas. These choices will determine whether the upgrades create usable public space or simply cosmetic changes along main corridors. The five-year timeline means decisions taken in the next budget cycle will shape outcomes through 2030.

City agencies must also coordinate with RAJUK on how Purbachal residents will eventually move between the new township and the upgraded central neighborhoods. No single project solves the full connectivity gap, so the next round of planning documents will need to set measurable targets for through-traffic and local access rather than leaving those links to later negotiations.

Residents and developers alike now wait for the next set of detailed master-plan updates and tender documents that will translate the broad acreage and plot counts into actual street layouts and service schedules.