DCC to undergo structural change?
Monday, 6 December 2010
Shamsul Huq Zahid
With the Election Commission (EC) dragging its feet on holding the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) elections for reasons that are known to everyone, the government is making an apparent serious move to divide the existing area of DCC and create multiple city corporations headed by mayors.
The EC had earlier announced its determination to hold the overdue DCC polls in the early part of the current calendar year. But following a request from the government, it backtracked.
The ruling party lawmakers representing the constituencies of DCC area during a meeting with the Prime Minister last Saturday requested for dividing the DCC area into more than one corporation, each headed by a mayor, taking into consideration the large population and the need for brining about discipline in the implementation of the development works of the Dhaka Metropolitan area.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Minister for Local Government, Cooperatives and Rural Development Syed Ashraful Islam, reportedly, were in favour of bifurcating of the DCC while Chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the LGRD ministry Rahmat Ali wanted to fragment the DCC into four entities.
It is most likely a bill to create more than one corporation would be moved in the next session of the parliament.
But it remains uncertain whether the DCC polls would be held before the proposed fragmentation of the DCC or not. The timing of government proposal and the move to make legal provision for appointing administrator to the city corporations in the event of failure to hold elections in time does indicate that holding of next DCC polls may take more time.
In the meanwhile, questions have been raised whether or not it is necessary to divide the existing DCC area into multiple corporations for achieving better results, in terms of development of the city roads and other infrastructural needs of the Dhaka residents.
There is no denying that the DCC has been falling far behind in fulfilling the expectations of the city residents. Roads, lanes and by-lanes in many areas of the city are in a dilapidated condition and conservancy services are inadequate. Many city areas do not have surface drains to clear off household waste waters and rain waters. Besides, the DCC has been failing to remove unauthorized structures built on roads and pavements across the city.
The city residents are not aware of the reasons-it could be lack of resources or non-availability of the required manpower and logistics-behind the poor performance on the part of the DCC.
So, before going for any sort of fragmentation of the DCC, the government does need to locate the factors responsible for inadequate service delivery by the corporation. There are a number of large cities in neighbouring countries or other parts of the world where one single city authority doing its job quite efficiently.
Creation of multiple corporations is unlikely to deliver the intended results if the efficiency level of the men in-charge remains low and the availability of resources is found to be inadequate.
The DCC has 10 regional offices that were originally created to deliver prompt and efficient services to the residents of their respective areas. But the offices have failed to achieve their objectives for lack of logistics, resources and authority. As in the case of the government, all powers are centralized with the executive officers heading the regional offices enjoying little authority.
There also exist some anomalies in the distribution of annual allocations among the wards, numbering 90, of the DCC. The allocations, irrespective big or small wards, remain the same.
Moreover, all councilors are not equally serious in resolving the problems faced by the residents of their respective wards. Some are found to be faithful in their efforts to improve the living conditions of their localities while some are not.
Unfortunately, not many enlightened and honest people take part in DCC elections which though not fought under political banners are very much political in character. Local musclemen having political connections do, in a number of cases, dominate city corporation and pourashava elections.
It is reported that a move to increase the manpower strength of the DCC has not got approval from the appropriate authorities for over two decades despite the fact the population and area of the Dhaka city have increased significantly over time.
Before taking any final decision, it would be prudent on the part of the government to try to identify the problems that are hurting the efficiency level of the DCC. The performance of the proposed multiple city corporations would well below the expectation if the problems remain unaddressed.
Activation of the regional offices through delegation of more power and increase of manpower and resources and effective monitoring of their activities from the centre might help improve the efficiency level of the DCC.
With the Election Commission (EC) dragging its feet on holding the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) elections for reasons that are known to everyone, the government is making an apparent serious move to divide the existing area of DCC and create multiple city corporations headed by mayors.
The EC had earlier announced its determination to hold the overdue DCC polls in the early part of the current calendar year. But following a request from the government, it backtracked.
The ruling party lawmakers representing the constituencies of DCC area during a meeting with the Prime Minister last Saturday requested for dividing the DCC area into more than one corporation, each headed by a mayor, taking into consideration the large population and the need for brining about discipline in the implementation of the development works of the Dhaka Metropolitan area.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Minister for Local Government, Cooperatives and Rural Development Syed Ashraful Islam, reportedly, were in favour of bifurcating of the DCC while Chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the LGRD ministry Rahmat Ali wanted to fragment the DCC into four entities.
It is most likely a bill to create more than one corporation would be moved in the next session of the parliament.
But it remains uncertain whether the DCC polls would be held before the proposed fragmentation of the DCC or not. The timing of government proposal and the move to make legal provision for appointing administrator to the city corporations in the event of failure to hold elections in time does indicate that holding of next DCC polls may take more time.
In the meanwhile, questions have been raised whether or not it is necessary to divide the existing DCC area into multiple corporations for achieving better results, in terms of development of the city roads and other infrastructural needs of the Dhaka residents.
There is no denying that the DCC has been falling far behind in fulfilling the expectations of the city residents. Roads, lanes and by-lanes in many areas of the city are in a dilapidated condition and conservancy services are inadequate. Many city areas do not have surface drains to clear off household waste waters and rain waters. Besides, the DCC has been failing to remove unauthorized structures built on roads and pavements across the city.
The city residents are not aware of the reasons-it could be lack of resources or non-availability of the required manpower and logistics-behind the poor performance on the part of the DCC.
So, before going for any sort of fragmentation of the DCC, the government does need to locate the factors responsible for inadequate service delivery by the corporation. There are a number of large cities in neighbouring countries or other parts of the world where one single city authority doing its job quite efficiently.
Creation of multiple corporations is unlikely to deliver the intended results if the efficiency level of the men in-charge remains low and the availability of resources is found to be inadequate.
The DCC has 10 regional offices that were originally created to deliver prompt and efficient services to the residents of their respective areas. But the offices have failed to achieve their objectives for lack of logistics, resources and authority. As in the case of the government, all powers are centralized with the executive officers heading the regional offices enjoying little authority.
There also exist some anomalies in the distribution of annual allocations among the wards, numbering 90, of the DCC. The allocations, irrespective big or small wards, remain the same.
Moreover, all councilors are not equally serious in resolving the problems faced by the residents of their respective wards. Some are found to be faithful in their efforts to improve the living conditions of their localities while some are not.
Unfortunately, not many enlightened and honest people take part in DCC elections which though not fought under political banners are very much political in character. Local musclemen having political connections do, in a number of cases, dominate city corporation and pourashava elections.
It is reported that a move to increase the manpower strength of the DCC has not got approval from the appropriate authorities for over two decades despite the fact the population and area of the Dhaka city have increased significantly over time.
Before taking any final decision, it would be prudent on the part of the government to try to identify the problems that are hurting the efficiency level of the DCC. The performance of the proposed multiple city corporations would well below the expectation if the problems remain unaddressed.
Activation of the regional offices through delegation of more power and increase of manpower and resources and effective monitoring of their activities from the centre might help improve the efficiency level of the DCC.