Option for city government

When the development paradigm shift in favour of equitable distribution of wealth and decentralisation of administration is compulsive, efforts are woefully lacking in this direction. Policymakers are accustomed to thinking of such decentralisation but even within the highly concentrated urban centres such decentralisation should prove most appropriate. That the capital Dhaka's and a few other cities' problems are mounting because of the reluctance to hand over self-governing power is hardly recognised. There are too many semi-autonomous bodies and utility services which are responsible for running the city. But as too many cooks spoil the broth, these disparate organisations do the same to the city's smooth functioning and planned development. Dhaka and many other cities have by now become a veritable concrete jungle. The problem here is not just the lack of a well developed urban plan but also the sanctioning authority's irregularities and ineptitude.

In cities of the developed countries, the city corporations are the sole authority to undertake the task of developing their cities. They are there to guide various bodies under them by coordinating development and other programmes. It is a city-not the government-that bids for hosting the Olympic Games. No wonder, an Olympic is known by the hosting city. Cities there enjoy enough autonomy to take up development programmes. Unfortunately, in Dhaka and other cities of this country, overlapping of programmes is a common phenomenon so much so that newly constructed roads or footpaths are dug repeatedly by different utility bodies in the name of development. In a country where resource for infrastructure development is scarce, such repeated digging and repair end up in colossal waste in the ultimate analysis. But who cares? The city corporations are toothless tigers having no say in such matters. Had these bodies been accountable to it, they could not go about such arbitrary execution of plan and programmes.

Clearly, Dhaka City is turning more dysfunctional with every passing day. The reasons are many behind this but there is no doubt that if there was a strong authority to supervise its affairs, things would not have turned so worse. A deceased mayor raised the issue of city government long ago but not much attention to his demand was paid. It is time the capital had a city government first and then other cities also enjoyed the same authority gradually. It has to be in the interest of the city's own organisation and also to give its benefit to the rest of the country.

The country's wealth acquisition at the present level should enable it the right mechanism to take development beyond the cities. Urbanisation at the district and upazila levels will happen anyway. By 2020, according to a conservative estimate, double the number of today's 32 million will live in cities. Another projection puts the number at 80 million. Now to meet the challenge, urban development in peripheral urban centres as well as the large cities has to be complementary to each other. Only city governments, given the authority and participatory option for development, can help the cause.