Examining the Regulatory Consistency among the Physical Plan implementing Authorities:

A case study on the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan

Abstract

Regulatory consistency in the implementation of physical plans has yet to be explored in Bangladesh or elsewhere. This study represents a pioneering effort in this field, aiming to determine whether there is regulatory consistency among the authorities responsible for implementing physical plans in Bangladesh. Focusing on the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP), the research adopts a qualitative approach, utilizing key informant interviews guided by a semi-structured questionnaire. The findings were analyzed through thematic and narrative analyses using NVivo 14 software. The study reveals significant issues regarding regulatory consistency between RAJUK and other plan implementing authorities within its jurisdiction. It identifies several challenges contributing to this inconsistency, including institutional incoherence, a lack of ownership, and unclear policies at the local level, among a total of twenty-one challenges identified. The research suggests three approaches to address this regulatory inconsistency, and all of them describe that to ensure regulatory consistency, local governments must follow the DMDP directives or create plans that align with them. The results of this study aim to enhance regulatory consistency among plan-implementing authorities in Bangladesh. Additionally, there is considerable potential for future research to validate these findings and explore them with quantitative data empirically.