Uttara Model Town or simply Uttara (; ) is a neighbourhood of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It lies on the road to Gazipur, and adjoins Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
In 1966, the Dhaka Improvement Trust (DIT) planned to build a satellite town under the North Satellite Town project in Dhaka District. In 1980, DIT changed the project name to Uttara Residential Model Town Project.
RAJUK completed the first phase of the project in 1992. In this phase, Uttara had 6,000 plots. The total land for these plots was . The sectors completed in the first phase were sectors 1 through 10.
A new phase started after the completion of first phase. The second phase took six years to complete. The sectors completed in the second phase were sectors 11, 12, 13, and 14.
During the course of the third phase around 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 was Tk 23.16 billion. The phase deadline was extended to June 2022. Sectors planned to be built in the third phase are sectors 15 through 18.
At the 2011 Bangladesh census, Uttara had a population of 179,907. According to the 2011 figures, males constitute 56.33% of the population and females 43.67%, and about 80% of the neighborhood's population are adults. Uttara has an average literacy rate of 90.49% (people 7 and older) which is much higher than the average literacy rate in Bangladesh at 77.9% as of 2023.
Uttara is divided into administrative and geographical divisions named sectors. There are 18 sectors in Uttara. Every sector is organized under a sector welfare association. Uttara Association is the combination of these sector-wise associations. The neighborhood is under two wards (Ward no. 1 and Ward no. 51) of Dhaka North City Corporation. Politically this area is in the Dhaka-18 constituency of the Jatiya Sangsad.
Uttara is a planned city and is one of the elite suburbs in Dhaka. For that reason, and due to many other features, Uttara is one of the most desirable residential areas in Dhaka. According to a survey conducted by B-Property in 2019, Uttara is the first choice of Dhaka residents for living. Nuswardi is Chief Executive of the property website 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.
Uttara is a popular destination for shooting Bangladeshi dramas.
Sector 7 Bridge is a popular destination for street food lovers. Home to many street food vendors, the suburbs also house many posh, luxurious restaurants and fine-dinings. Residents from other parts of Dhaka visit these restaurants frequently.
Uttara has a total of eight parks. Sectors 1, 2, 5, 8, 9 and 10 have no parks. There are numerous lakes in Uttara, including Uttara Lake, however there are no lakes in sectors 1, 2, 6, 8, 10 and 12. Khidir Canal also runs through the neighborhood. There is a children's amusement park in Sector 15 named Fantasy Island.
Many bus routes provide various transportation services in Uttara. Many taxi services are available in this area such as Uber, Pathao, Shohoz, and InDrive.
Residents of Uttara use the Dhaka Airport Railway Station to travel. Situated opposite to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, it is accessible via the Airport Road.
At present, the MRT Line 6 of Dhaka Metro connects Diabari of Uttara to Motijheel There are three metro stations in Uttara under MRT Line 6, these include: Uttara North, Uttara Centre and Uttara South.
There is an airport situated in Kurmitola, Dhaka named Shahjalal International Airport. It can be accessed by the eight-lane Airport Road. To the north of the airport lies Uttara area and Gazipur city, while Dhaka city lies to its south. There is a railway station immediately outside (facing) the airport named Airport Railway Station.
There is a sub-post office situated in Sector 3, with a postal code of 1231.
There is a fire service and civil defence station in Uttara.
Uttara has a Regional Passport Office (RPO) situated in Sector 12.
The neighbourhood of Uttara has six thanas (police precincts):