Everybody has a dream of owning a home in Dhaka. Numerous plans including location selection, land purchase, house design, and construction are carried out to fulfill that dream.
But before you could do all that, you need approval for building construction. In that regard, RAJUK or the Capital Development Authority is the government institution overseeing all development plans in Dhaka.
One of the agency’s functions under the Ministry of Public Works is to approve building designs. So if you want to build any building in Dhaka, first you have to submit its design to RAJUK and get approval.
In order to get approval for the construction of buildings, especially in Dhaka, the design of any building has to comply with the National Building Construction Rules of Bangladesh and RAJUK Building Construction Rules.
if any building or part is constructed in violation of these two types of rules, then that building or part will be considered illegal in the law of Bangladesh. The concerned authorities may at any time inquire into the matter and may dismantle the part constructed on the basis of defective or unauthorized design or in violation of the approved design subject to giving notice.
So in order to get the approval for building construction, first of all, you have to get a complete design of the building in compliance with all the rules. You just have to do a few things step by step to get the building construction approved.
What you need to do to get RAJUK’s approval
1. Application Form No. 401 for design approval of construction permit should be collected from the designated bank of RAJUK.
2. The bank receipt has to be collected by depositing the prescribed fee in the design approval branch in the concerned bank.
3. Attested copies of documents, deed registration, land development tax, DCR, pamphlets etc. must be submitted in favor of the applicant’s legal ownership of the proposed land.
4. For specific land use, RAJUK prescribed clearance, receipt of service charge payment, and 1 copy of the proposed design should be submitted.
Land use clearances can be of different types. E.g.-
- Clearance from Town Planning Branch (in case of privately owned land)
- Estate Branch Clearance (in case of RAJUK plot or land)
- Relevant office clearance (in case of other government lands/plots)
- Special project clearance (for large scale or special type projects)
- Construction approval letter
- Living and usage clearance
- Development Permit (if applicable)
In this regard, it is good to know that usually three types of land are recognized by RAJUK –
- RAJUK plot
- Plots of RAJUK approved residential projects
- Privately owned plots
To apply for the construction of a house on a plot under RAJUK, one has to get clearance from the estate branch of RAJUK. For private residential plots approved by RAJUK, a certificate from the RAJUK town planning branch needs to be obtained. On the other hand, for privately owned plots, land use clearance has to be obtained from RAJUK’s Urban Planning Department.
5. 8 copies of the architectural design (including the name of the architect or engineer, owner or developer, member registration number, address, and phone number of the professional organization) need to be submitted by printing on the prescribed size paper (ammonia print).
6. Site plan, layout plan, floor plan, parking plan, vertical and horizontal 2 sections and elevation – these drawings must be in the submitted design. However, the authorities may want to see more drawings as required.
7. The soil test report has to be submitted along with the design for specific parts as per RAJUK’s DAP (Detailed Area Plan).
In addition, the RAJUK rules contain detailed restrictions on ensuring proper use of land, the density of the city, area-based rights of land as neighbors, firefighting and management. These also need to be complied with to get building approval from RAJUK and to construct a valid, functional and livable building.
Building a home for future security is definitely your right. However, the habitable environment cannot be harmed by building the dream house. Therefore, in order to keep the environment livable, it is essential to follow the building construction rules of RAJUK and get approval for building construction from RAJUK.
