How Base FAR and Total FAR Are Calculated

The MIN rule (most important concept)

DAP deliberately takes the more restrictive of two independent FAR limits:

BaseFAR = MIN(PlotFAR, AreaFAR)

You cannot use a high road-width Plot FAR if your density block Area FAR is lower — and vice versa.

Step 1 — Plot FAR (Appendix 3.5)

Plot FAR depends on:

• Building category (A1–M, per Bidhimala 2025 Table 5)
• Location context — Central Dhaka, Outside Central, or Other City Area
• Access road width in metres

Wider roads unlock higher Plot FAR. After SRO 466/2025, a 6 m road FAR increased from 2.75 → 3.25 for many residential categories.

Step 2 — Area FAR (Appendix 3.6)

Each of the 68 density blocks has a maximum Area FAR, desirable density, and population density cap. Examples from the database:

Block	Area	Max Area FAR
DB-01	Old Dhaka	4.5
DB-02	Motijheel CBD	5.0
DB-05	Gulshan–Banani	3.5
DB-09	Uttara Model Town	3.0

Step 3 — Incentive FAR

Eligible bonuses (TOD, low-cost housing, adjacent park, etc.) are added to Base FAR.

MaximumFAR = MAX(PlotFAR, AreaFAR)
TotalFAR   = MIN(BaseFAR + IncentiveFAR, MaximumFAR)

Plot FAR is linearly interpolated between Appendix 3.5 road-width band breakpoints (Shellmark practice).

Worked example (Shellmark Ex-02)

Input	Value
Category	A3 (Apartment)
Road width	25 ft (7.62 m)
Plot FAR	3.38 (interpolated)
Block	DB-03 Bashundhara (Area FAR 4.1)
Incentive	Plot unification +0.2, TOD +0.5

• Base FAR = min(3.38, 4.1) = 3.38
• Maximum FAR = max(3.38, 4.1) = 4.10
• Total FAR = min(3.38 + 0.7, 4.10) = 4.08