The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Government Colonies. Four metropolitan city development authorities have been established in Dhaka, Khulna, Chittagong and Rajshahi, namely the Rajdhani Unnayon Kortripokkho (RAJUK) in Dhaka, Khulna Development Authority (KDA), Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) and Rajshahi Development Authority (RDA). Originally, these authorities were mandated to plan and develop cities; however, they have deviated from that role and have become more involved in acquiring and developing both khas and private lands for allocation to senior Government officials, the Defense Services, Members of Parliament, journalists, business persons and so on. Urban planning has not been pro-poor, thus it has not offered scope for ownership or rights of tenure of poor. The Plan is extremely unequal and skewed towards the privileged. The influence of powerful patrons in the bureaucracy and amongst politicians has allowed for rapid property development. This has led to large scale, illegal occupation of public lands and encroachment on private lands, creating crises for those living on the margins. Private urban developers have been active in constructing housing since the early eighties, but their investments have been in response to the demands of the very high and upper middle-income groups. Property development has become a lucrative business as apartments can be sold at high profit margins. This has prompted landowners to sell their land and property developers to invest in high rise buildings. The mushroom growth of apartments has been significant in Dhaka, Chittagong and other major cities over the last decade. However, the many complaints by clients against the breach of terms of agreement by property developers relating to construction quality, price fixing, deviation from agreements for actual land utilization, etc. have yet to be addressed by policy makers and regulatory agencies. Land acquisition in the name of development has increased the threat to the right to shelter particularly of slum dwellers. Profiteering has led land developers to take over both Government khas land and private land. The Dhaka Improvement Trust started land development schemes in the late fifties. Later, RAJUK expanded its coverage to Dhanmondi, Gulshan, 44 Banani, Baridhara, Uttara areas and lately to Purbachal. City expansion usually occurred in fringe areas where land prices were comparatively cheaper. In most of the cases, the Government acquired land from small land owners or farmers at below market prices, it demarcated individual plots, developed infrastructure and then allotted these plots to selected applicants, which included senior officials in the bureaucracy, military, professional classes and political leaders. Land development by the private sector began in the early 1980s in and around Dhaka but was mostly concentrated in the eastern and northern part of the city. Later in the early nineties, with the massive involvement of private companies, housing projects became a booming business. In view of the large public demand, the bigger property development companies invested a substantial amount of capital in high-rise construction that would maximize profits and ensure a safe return on their investment. This massive business opportunity was created due to the large gap between supply and demand. Several land developers reportedly became involved in fraudulent business, grabbing public land, encroaching into lakes, ponds and wetlands, and forcing marginal landowners to sell their lands. The main obstacles to preventing illegal acquisition of land lie in the faulty system of land registration and record maintenance and in loopholes in the law. Pervasive political pressure means that in some cases even the Prime Minister’s direction may not be fully executed to stop land grabbing. In 2004, at a conference of the Deputy Commissioners (DC) the then Prime Minister ordered them to recover land from illegal land grabbers. However, the order was never carried out. Unless an effective land registration and record maintenance system is established, and the Government is politically committed to enforcing the law against illegal acquisitions, the situation will not change. RAJUK’s regulatory measures are inadequate and they are not implemented effectively to prevent land grabbing and illegal construction. It usually publishes notices in newspapers declaring that the Government has not approved particular housing societies or construction, but this has not been a strong enough deterrent. The Government needs to take legal action against profit oriented business organizations and to hold RAJUK 45