With the fanfare all over the capital Dhaka and the port city Chittagong ahead of the city corporation polls on April 28, it is for certain that the voters are having a respite from the urban tedium, at least for a while. However, to many, this respite is an end in itself, and not a means to any worthwhile end. And there are others, who think they are being taken for a ride by the aspiring candidates with bundle of promises packaged in lofty manifestos.
To argue that the city corporation polls are not just about the ongoing festivities, and that these do hold promises for the city dwellers, one has but to look at the factors underlying the negative perception. To start with, the manifestoes presented by the mayoral candidates of both the metropolitan cities do not seem to strike a note of credibility; most of the tasks being pledged to be done are in reality beyond the jurisdiction of the city corporations. It is common knowledge that water, electricity and gas -- the essential services on which urban centres depend for their very survival -- are not in the hands of the corporation, being run by mega state agencies. As for road transportation and traffic management, it is the police and the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) who are the designated bodies to call the shots. The next important area of activity -- town planning, raising building structures, acquiring and developing lands for habitation and so on rest with the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (RAJUK) and the Chittagong Development Authority (CDA), respectively for Dhaka and Chittagong. This being the reality, it is difficult to consider the promises at all relevant.
It would have been all very fine if things were different -- with more authority vested with the city corporations to plan a better living for those who live in the two major cities, one of which has already earned the disrepute as one of the world's most unliveable cities. The city dwellers would then have the prospect of looking up to the city corporations as true care givers, and only then the loud promises would make some sense. But under the prevailing circumstances, such prospects are slim. Beside the very narrow scope of activities, city corporations, run mostly on government grants, are not delegated enough power to take on any major development project.
Over and above, as the spheres of activities are segregated with little or no coordination among the different agencies, execution of development projects suffer most, including time over-run and colossal waste of funds. In view of the state of affairs, city corporation elections appear to be of symbolic value only. Unless the city authorities are effectively empowered as focal points clustered around by all service-rendering agencies, no inclusive city development plan can materialise satisfactorily. This issue had been raised a number of times in the past, but no government seemed interested to pay heed to it. Despite the prevailing scepticism, it is in the interest of the nation that the city polls were held fairly with utmost transparency. Then to make the polls meaningful, attention should be focused on how best to gain from an integrated city development approach with the city corporation authorities at the centre.
