Uttara

Uttara

উত্তরা
Uttara উত্তরা
Neighbourhoods in Dhaka Metropolitan Area
	Uttara Model Town
	Skyline of Uttara, Dhaka
	Coordinates: 23°52′37″N 90°22′37″E / 23.877°N 90.377°E
Country	Bangladesh
Division	Dhaka Division
District	Dhaka District
Metropolitan	DNCC
Establishment	1966
Founded by	RAJUK
Area
• Total	36.91 km2 (14.25 sq mi)
Elevation	23 m (75 ft)
Population (2011)
• Total	179,907
• Density	4,874.20/km2 (12,624.1/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+6 (BST)
Postal code	1230

This article contains a translation of Uttara (neighbourhood) from en.wikipedia.

Uttara Model Town or simply Uttara (Bengali: উত্তরা, romanised: Uttora) is a neighbourhood of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. The name derives from the Bengali word uttor (উত্তর) meaning "north". It lies on the road to Gazipur, and adjoins Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

History

Planning

In 1966, Dhaka Improvement Trust planned to build a satellite town under North Satellite Town project in Dhaka District. In 1980, DIT changed the project name into Uttara Residential Model Town Project.^[2]

First phase

RAJUK^{[note 1]} completed the first phase of the project in 1992. In this phase, Uttara had 6,000 plots. The total land for these plots was 950 acres.^[4] Completed sectors in 1st phase are Sector 1, Sector 2, Sector 3, Sector 4, Sector 5, Sector 6, Sector 7, Sector 8, Sector 9, and Sector 10.

Second phase

New phase started after the completion of first phase. Second phase took 6 years to complete.^[5] Completed sectors in 2nd phase are Sector 11, Sector 12, Sector 13, and Sector 14.

Third phase

During the course of the third phase circa 2,150 acres (8.7 km2) of land were acquired. About 10,000 residential plots and 225,512 apartments including amenities and urban facilities were provided. The estimated cost of third phase is Tk 23.16 billion. The deadline of the extension project was extended to June 2022.^[4] Planned sectors in 3rd phase are Sector 15, Sector 16, Sector 17, and Sector 18.

Demographics

At the 2011 Bangladesh census, Uttara had a population of 179,907. According to 2011 figures, males constitute 56.33% of the population and females 43.67%, and about 80% of the Uttara's population are adults. Uttara has an average literacy rate of 90.49% (7+ years).^[6]

Administration

Uttara is divided into administrative and geographical divisions named "Sectors". There are 18 sectors in Uttara.^[7] Every sector is under a sector welfare association.^[8] Uttara Association is the combination of these sector-wise associations.^[9] The Suburb of Uttara is under two wards (Ward no. 1^[10] and Ward no. 51^[11]) of DNCC. Politically this area is under Dhaka-18 constituency.^[12]

Geography

Inner Uttara

Sector 1
Sector 2
Sector 3
Sector 4
Sector 5
Sector 6
Sector 7
Sector 8
Sector 9
Sector 10
Sector 11
Sector 12
Sector 13
Sector 14
Sector 15
Sector 16
Sector 17
Sector 18

Economy

Uttara is a planned city and one of the elite suburbs in Dhaka.^[13] For that reason, and many other attractive features, Uttara is one of the most desirable residential areas in Dhaka.^[14] According to a survey conducted by B-property in 2019, Uttara is the first choice of Dhaka residents for living. Mr Nuswardi is a Chief Executive of the property website named B-Property. He said to BBC Bangla that this planned satellite town is an important place in the capital of Bangladesh which has all necessary amenities and services the residents need. In the future, more and more people will start living in Purbachal, which is located adjacent to the area so it is a plus point.^[15]

Uttara is a popular destination for shooting Bangladeshi dramas.^[16]^[17]

Parks and recreation

Uttara Model Town has a total of 8 parks. Sectors 1, 2, 5, 8, 9 and 10 have no parks. There are numerous lakes in Uttara except in sectors 1, 2, 6, 8, 10 and 12.^[18] There is a children amusement park in sector 15 named Fantasy Island.^[19] It has Uttara Lake and Khidir Canal.