Land scarcity and the imperative of growth : challenges for Bangladesh development
Pittaluga, Fabian
Bangladesh has sustained a solid growth over the past few years and is aiming at becoming a middle-income country by 2020. However, in order to continue on such a growth path Bangladesh will need to fill a large "infrastructure gap" that holds the country back. Access to land is the crucial bottleneck to fill that gap. All infrastructure (roads, bridges, economic zones, pipelines) have a footprint, and in a land-scarce and densely populated country like Bangladesh, gaining access to land for infrastructure projects is a major unresolved issue. Land records are in a despicable state, land administration is ineffective, and legal instruments are inadequate. At the same time policies for resettlemnt do not exist and compensation under the law seldom reaches the affected parties. Given all of these constraints, Bangladesh will need to find a menu of options that will allow development to continue and affected people to avoid unnecessary sufferings. The paper addresses the current status of land acquisition and resettlement in Bangladesh and provides a set of options for moving forward based on experiences in countries with similar constraints.
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