Dhaka Map

• Dhaka is the commercial heart of Bangladesh. The city has a growing middle class population, driving the market for modern consumer and luxury goods. The city has historically attracted a large number of migrant workers. Hawkers, peddlers, small shops, rickshaw transport, roadside vendors and stalls employ a large segment of the population — rickshaw-drivers alone number as many as 400,000. Half the workforce is employed in household and unorganised labour, while about 800,000 work in the textile industry. Even so, unemployment remains high at 19%. As of 2009, Dhaka's Gross Municipal Product (GMP) is registered at $85 billion. With an annual growth rate of 6.2%, the GMP is projected to rise to $215 billion by 2025. The annual per capita income of Dhaka is estimated at $1,350(USD), with 34% of households living below the poverty line, including a large segment of the population coming from the villages in search of employment, with most surviving on less than $5 a day.

• The main commercial areas of the city include Motijheel, New Market, Gulshan and Farmgate, while Tejgaon and Hazaribagh are the major industrial areas. Bashundhara-Baridhara is a developing economic area that will include high-tech industries, corporations and a large shopping precinct in about 5 years. The Export Processing Zone in Dhaka was set up to encourage the export of garments, textiles and other goods. Dhaka has two EPZs. They are home to 413 industries, which employ mostly women. The Dhaka Stock Exchange is based in the city, as are most of the large multinationals including Citigroup, HSBC Bank Bangladesh, JPMorgan Chase, Standard Chartered Bank (Bangladesh), American Express, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Total, British Petroleum, Unilever, Nestle, DHL Express, FedEx and British American Tobacco. Large local conglomerates such as Concord Group, Rangs Group, Beximco Group, T.K. Group of Industries, Summit Group, Navana Group, Zaman Group of Industries and Rahimafrooz also have their corporate offices located in Dhaka. Microcredit also began here and the offices of the Nobel Prize winning Grameen Bank and BRAC are based in Dhaka. Urban developments have sparked a widespread construction boom; new high-rise buildings and skyscrapers have changed the city landscape. Growth has been especially strong in the finance, banking, manufacturing, telecommunications and services sectors, while tourism, hotels and restaurants continue as important elements in the economy of Dhaka.

• Cricket and football are the two most popular sports in Dhaka and across the nation. Teams are fielded in intra-city and national competitions by a large number of schools, colleges and private entities. The Mohammedan Sports Club and Abahani are two of the most famous football and cricket teams, maintaining a fierce rivalry.

• Dhaka has the distinction of having hosted the first official Test cricket match of the Pakistan cricket team in 1954 against India. The Bangabandhu National Stadium was formerly the main venue for domestic and international cricket matches, but now exclusively hosts football matches. It was the host for the opening ceremony of the 2011 Cricket World Cup as well as for 6 matches of the tournament including 2 quarterfinals. The Bangladesh Sports Control Board, responsible for promoting sports activities across the nation is based in Dhaka. Dhaka also has stadiums largely used for domestic events such as the Sher-e-Bangla Mirpur Stadium (in Mirpur), the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium and the Outer Stadium Ground. The Dhaka University Ground hosts many intercollegiate tournaments.

• As the most populous city of Bangladesh, Dhaka has a vibrant cultural life. Annual celebrations for Independence Day (26 March), Language Martyrs' Day (21 February) and Victory Day (16 December) are prominently celebrated across the city. Dhaka's people congregate at the Shaheed Minar and the Jatiyo Smriti Soudho to remember the national heroes of the liberation war. These occasions are observed with public ceremonies and rallies in public grounds. Many schools and colleges organise fairs, festivals and concerts in which citizens from all levels of society participate.

• Pohela Baishakh, the Bengali New Year, falls annually on April 14 and is popularly celebrated across the city. Large crowds of people gather on the streets of Shahbag, Ramna Park and the campus of the University of Dhaka for celebrations. The most popular dressing style for women are sarees or salwar kameez, while men usually prefer western clothing to the traditional lungi. The Muslim festivals of Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha witness widespread celebrations across the whole city. For much of recent history, Dhaka was characterised by roadside markets and small shops that sold a wide variety of goods. Recent years have seen the widespread construction of shopping malls, multiplexes, hotels and restaurants attracting Dhaka's growing middle class and wealthy residents. Along with Bangladeshi cuisine and South Asian variants, a large variety of Western and Chinese cuisine is served at numerous restaurants and eateries. Though restaurants offering multinational cuisine and fastfood chains like KFC, Pizza Hut, Baskin Robbins, A&W, Chili's, have opened up in the city but unique Dhakai delicacies like Glassey, Hajir Biriani(Haji's Biriani), Fakhruddin Biriani, Mama Halim, Borhani etc. are still very popular amongst Dhakaiyas. These delicacies are even offered to state guests. Dhakai Bakarkhani is the traditional food/snack of the people of old Dhaka. It is famous for its quality and taste and it was highly praised by the royal court of the Mughal Empire in Delhi.

• Despite the growing popularity of music groups and rock bands, traditional folk music remains widely popular. The works of the national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam and national anthem writer Rabindranath Tagore have a widespread following across Dhaka. The Baily Road area is known as Natak Para (Theatre Neighbourhood) which is the centre of Dhaka's thriving theatre movement. Indian and Western music and films are popular with large segments of Dhaka's population. This area is also credited for the revival of the Jamdani due to the many local saree stores selling and promoting these locally hand-made age old traditional Bengali sarees. Jamdanis are 100% hand weaved and originate from the Persian and Mughal era. Jamdanis are produced by a traditional high quality cottage industry, which is slowly dying out due to the slow production process. A single medium range Jamdani saree may take as long as 3 months to complete.

• Bangladesh Betar is the state-run primary provider of radio services, and broadcasts a variety of programming in Bangla and English. In recent years many private radio networks, especially FM radio services, have been established in the city such as Radio Foorti FM 88.0, Radio Today FM 89.6, Radio Amar FM 101.6 and ABC Radio FM 89.2. Bangladesh Television is the state-run broadcasting network that provides a wide variety of programmes in Bangla and English. Cable and satellite networks such as Ekushey Television, Channel I, ATN Bangla, RTV, NTV and STAR TV are amongst the most popular channels. The main offices of most publishing houses in Bangladesh are based in Dhaka. The Prothom Alo and The Daily Ittefaq are the most popular amongst the large number of Bangla language dailies, periodicals and other publications in the city. The Daily Star and The Independent are the major English dailies published. The telephone concentration in Bangladesh is estimated at around 50% and this is much higher in Dhaka."Mobile Phone Subscribers in Bangladesh, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission". Btrc.gov.bd. http://www.btrc.gov.bd/newsandevents/mobile_phone_subscribers/mobile_phone_subscribers_march_2011.php. Retrieved 2010-10-27. </ref>

• Cycle rickshaws and auto rickshaws are the main mode of transport, with close to 400,000 rickshaws running each day – the largest number for any city in the world. However, only about 85,000 rickshaws are licensed by the city government. Relatively low-cost and non-polluting cycle rickshaws nevertheless cause traffic congestion and have been banned from many parts of the city. Public buses are operated by the state-run Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) and by private companies and operators. Scooters, taxis and privately owned automobiles are increasingly becoming popular with the city's growing middle class. The government has overseen the replacement of two-stroke engine taxis with "Green taxis" locally called CNG, which run on compressed natural gas.

• Dhaka has 1,868 kilometres (1,161 mi) of paved roads. It is connected to the other parts of the country through strong highway and railway links. Highway links to the Indian cities of Kolkata and Agartala have been established by the BRTC which also runs regular bus services to those cities from Dhaka.

• The Kamalapur Railway Station, Airport (Biman Bandar) Railway Station and the Cantonment Railway Station are the main railway stations providing trains on suburban & national routes operated by the state-run Bangladesh Railway. Bangladesh Railway also runs a regular train service between Dhaka and Kolkata.

• The Sadarghat Port on the banks of the Buriganga River serves for the transport of goods and passengers upriver and to other ports in Bangladesh.

• The Shahjalal International Airport, located 15 km north of Dhaka city centre, is the largest and busiest airport in the nation. It handles 52% of the country's international and domestic arrivals and departures. Domestic service flies to Chittagong, Sylhet, Cox's Bazar, Jessore, Barisal, Saidpur and international services fly to major cities in Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Western Europe.

• An elevated Expressway system is under construction. The Dhaka Elevated Expressway would run from Shahjalal International Airport-Kuril-Banani-Mohakhali-Tejgaon-Saatrasta-Moghbazar rail crossing-Khilgaon-Kamalapur-Golapbagh to Dhaka-Chittagong highway at Kutubkhali point. A longer second elevated expressway from airport-Ashulia is currently undergoing feasibility study.

• The Dhaka Metro fesibility study has been completed. A 21.5 kilometer, $1.7 Billion Phase 1, metro route is being negotiated by the Government with Japan International Cooperation Agency. The first route will start from Pallabi, northern suburb of Dhaka to Sayedabad, southern section of Dhaka.

• Dhaka is located in central Bangladesh at 23°42′0″N 90°22′30″E / 23.7°N 90.375°E / 23.7; 90.375, on the eastern banks of the Buriganga River. The city lies on the lower reaches of the Ganges Delta and covers a total area of 153.84 square kilometres . It consists of eight principal thanas –Lalbagh, Kotwali, Sutrapur, Ramna, Motijheel, Paltan, Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur, Tejgaon – and 16 auxiliary thanas – Gulshan, Mirpur, Pallabi, Shah Ali, Turaag, Sabujbagh, Dhaka Cantonment, Demra, Hazaribagh, Shyampur, Badda, Kafrul, Kamrangir char, Khilgaon and Uttara. In total the city has 130 wards and 725 mohallas. Dhaka district has an area of 1463.60 square kilometres (565 sq mi); and is bounded by the districts of Gazipur, Tangail, Munshiganj, Rajbari, Narayanganj, Manikganj. Tropical vegetation and moist soils characterize the land, which is flat and close to sea level. This leaves Dhaka susceptible to flooding during the monsoon seasons owing to heavy rainfall and cyclones.