Planning for regeneration of Dhaka city
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Tanvir Ahmed
Dhaka, a city of over 13 million people, appears to be bursting at the seams. It presents, almost everywhere, a spectacle of squalor, shanty dwellings, awful traffic congestion, shortage of basic utility services, lack of recreation sites or natural parks and playgrounds, unclean air, intrusion of commercial establishments and manufacturing into residential areas, etc. There are, no doubt, many islands of opulence or relative neatness amid this overall decadence. But these sights only draw attention to the facts of the city's very skewed development.
However, the problems of Dhaka are still very much within the possibility of solution. This statement may surprise one from the present sights of the city's miserable existence in many areas but the prospects are truly there. Dhaka has come to its current apparently hopeless state of existence for the singular reason of lack of planning. For example, it could not take landfills for dumping its rubbish well outside city limits or to develop a modern system of garbage disposal through recycling; it could not establish an effective or enforceable zoning system separating commercial, residential and industrial areas; the people responsible for its governance failed to ensure expansion of utility services to meet the demand of its rising population ; and, most importantly, roads and other travel ways as well as medium of travels were not developed commensurate with the fast rise in the population of the city.
Dhaka's problems have been compounded over the years also by lack of strategic planning at the national level to decentralise administration and promote conditions for reasonably uniform economic opportunities throughout the country. From all over the country, mindless migrations to Dhaka have been taking place -- out of an expectation of earning a livelihood and better income opportunities -- with the city's present capacities proving hardly enough to withstand the rising pressures from the endless streams of the new arrivals.
But notwithstanding these seemingly insurmountable problems, there are still ways of coming out of the very stressed conditions of Dhaka. The thing to note is that there are no grounds for total despair. With sound plans and their proper implementation, Dhaka city can make a turnaround as a beautiful and comfortable city in no time. This prospect is really there.
Dhaka, a city of over 13 million people, appears to be bursting at the seams. It presents, almost everywhere, a spectacle of squalor, shanty dwellings, awful traffic congestion, shortage of basic utility services, lack of recreation sites or natural parks and playgrounds, unclean air, intrusion of commercial establishments and manufacturing into residential areas, etc. There are, no doubt, many islands of opulence or relative neatness amid this overall decadence. But these sights only draw attention to the facts of the city's very skewed development.
However, the problems of Dhaka are still very much within the possibility of solution. This statement may surprise one from the present sights of the city's miserable existence in many areas but the prospects are truly there. Dhaka has come to its current apparently hopeless state of existence for the singular reason of lack of planning. For example, it could not take landfills for dumping its rubbish well outside city limits or to develop a modern system of garbage disposal through recycling; it could not establish an effective or enforceable zoning system separating commercial, residential and industrial areas; the people responsible for its governance failed to ensure expansion of utility services to meet the demand of its rising population ; and, most importantly, roads and other travel ways as well as medium of travels were not developed commensurate with the fast rise in the population of the city.
Dhaka's problems have been compounded over the years also by lack of strategic planning at the national level to decentralise administration and promote conditions for reasonably uniform economic opportunities throughout the country. From all over the country, mindless migrations to Dhaka have been taking place -- out of an expectation of earning a livelihood and better income opportunities -- with the city's present capacities proving hardly enough to withstand the rising pressures from the endless streams of the new arrivals.
But notwithstanding these seemingly insurmountable problems, there are still ways of coming out of the very stressed conditions of Dhaka. The thing to note is that there are no grounds for total despair. With sound plans and their proper implementation, Dhaka city can make a turnaround as a beautiful and comfortable city in no time. This prospect is really there.