Jungle Salimpur and a warning on strategic land management

The massive joint-forces operation launched this week in Jungle Salimpur, Chattogram, did more than expose a criminal stronghold; it revealed a deeper policy problem showing how strategic land around our most important port can gradually fall outside effective governance. For years, reports described this area as a place where illegal land transactions, informal authority structures, and criminal networks operated with limited state oversight. While the immediate concern now is law enforcement, the broader challenge of protecting strategic land around major logistics and industrial hubs is also something that cannot be ignored.

The scale of the problem at Jungle Salimpur became clearer when around 4,000 personnel from the army, Rab, police, and BGB were deployed to dismantle criminal hideouts and re-establish state control there. This is particularly significant because of where it occurred. Chattogram is Bangladesh’s principal maritime gateway, handling over 90 percent of the country’s international seaborne trade through the port there. When governance problems emerge near such a critical economic hub, the implications extend far beyond local administration.

This illustrates what may befall even strategically important land when monitoring and planning fail to keep pace with urban expansion. Over several decades, weak oversight of government-owned land, combined with rapid population growth, appears to have allowed informal settlements and illegal land transactions to spread across the area. The scale of the settlement itself is striking. Jungle Salimpur, reportedly, covers nearly 3,100 acres of government-owned hills, where tens of thousands of residents live in largely unregulated housing clusters.

In many rapidly growing cities, informal settlements initially emerge because low-income households cannot find affordable housing within the formal urban system. But when land ownership remains unclear and institutional oversight is weak, informal brokers and organised groups often begin to control land transactions. Over time, a shadow land market develops outside the legal framework. Such dynamics are not unique to Bangladesh.

According to UN-Habitat, rapid urbanisation frequently produces informal settlements when planning systems fail to expand alongside population growth. The difference lies in how quickly authorities respond. When informal occupation is detected early, governments can intervene through planning measures or relocation strategies. But when settlements expand for decades without effective oversight, reversing the situation becomes extremely difficult and expensive.

For a logistics-driven economy like Bangladesh, these risks are particularly serious. Industrial growth depends on predictable land availability, clear property rights, and stable governance. Investors and infrastructure planners need confidence that land designated for industrial zones, logistics facilities, or transport corridors will remain available for those purposes.

But pressure on our industrial land is already increasing. As manufacturing expands and logistics networks become more complex, demand for properly serviced industrial zones continues to rise. The Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) is developing multiple economic zones across the country to support export-oriented industrial expansion. Meanwhile, ports require surrounding space for container yards, warehouses, inland depots, and transport connectivity. Highways and rail corridors also need protected land for future expansion. When large areas of government land near key economic centres gradually fall into informal occupation, reclaiming them later becomes extremely costly.

Chattogram’s future development makes the issue even more important. The city is expected to play a central role in Bangladesh’s next phase of trade and industrial growth. Planned infrastructure such as the Bay Terminal project, expected to significantly expand port capacity and allow larger vessels to berth, is intended to transform cargo handling and logistics efficiency in the region. In such a context, instability in strategically located areas can create broader planning concerns.

Logistics infrastructure depends heavily on reliability and security. Warehousing zones, freight corridors, and port access routes must operate within a stable governance environment. When nearby areas fall under informal control or criminal influence, the risks extend beyond policing challenges and begin to affect investor confidence.

The geographic setting of Jungle Salimpur adds another layer of sensitivity. The area lies within a belt surrounded by important national institutions, including Chattogram Cantonment, Faujdarhat Cadet College, and the Bangladesh Military Academy. From a planning perspective, land located near such key state institutions, transport corridors, and economic infrastructure should receive stronger monitoring and governance than ordinary urban land or areas.

At the same time, any long-term response must recognise the complex social realities of informal settlements. Not every resident in such areas is involved in illegal activities. Many families settle there simply because affordable housing options are limited. According to the World Bank, housing shortages and rural-to-urban migration are major drivers of informal settlement growth in Bangladesh. A sustainable solution therefore requires distinguishing between organised criminal actors, illegal land brokers, and vulnerable residents who may require alternative housing arrangements. Addressing only the security dimension without tackling underlying housing pressures is unlikely to produce lasting results.

So the broader policy lesson here is clear: protecting strategic land around major logistics hubs must become a national priority. Government land near ports, highways, and industrial corridors should be continuously monitored through digital land records, satellite mapping, and coordinated institutional oversight. Modern land administration increasingly relies on geospatial mapping and digital land information systems to detect illegal occupation early, and Bangladesh should adopt or strengthen such approaches.

Urban planning must also evolve alongside economic growth. As Bangladesh expands its manufacturing base and logistics infrastructure, planning authorities must anticipate where industrial zones, transport corridors, and urban housing can expand in a balanced and sustainable manner.

To sum up, the Jungle Salimpur development should be viewed not only as a law-enforcement episode but also as a policy warning. For a country whose economic future depends heavily on logistics efficiency and export growth, protecting strategic land near its principal port city must be treated as part of its long-term economic strategy.

Ahamedul Karim Chowdhury is adjunct faculty at Bangladesh Maritime University and former head of Kamalapur inland container depot and Pangaon inland container terminal under the Chittagong Port Authority.

Views expressed in this article are the author's own. 

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