Salvaging Dhaka: Administrative decentralisation, eastward expansion

At 964 per square kilometre, the population density in Bangladesh is one of the highest in the world. Population density in the urban areas, on the other hand, is 1800 per square kilometre, which is more than double the density in rural areas. As for megacity Dhaka which accounts for about 10 per cent of the total population of Bangladesh and contributes around 40 per cent to the country's gross domestic product (GDP), the central city density is an astounding 26,000 (average density of megacity is 13000), which is the highest among the megacities. With around 40 per cent of the country's urban population (around 30 per cent in the whole country) living in Greater Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital has now become one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Dhaka's urban growth must be managed in order to achieve the vision of becoming a middle-income country by the year 2021. This includes genuine administrative decentralisation, proper urban planning and implementation, as well as taking full advantage of Eastern Dhaka - where there is ample availability of land near the core of the city - in order to increase the city's economic opportunities and livability.
According to the World Bank, "Dhaka's urban development has not kept up with the city's rapid growth, resulting in a messy and uneven urbanisation process. Lack of adequate planning has resulted in chronic congestion, poor livability, and vulnerability to floods and earthquakes. Many residents, including the 3.5 million slum dwellers, often lack access to basic services, infrastructure, and amenities. In the last 10 years, average traffic speed has dropped from 21 km/hour to 7 km/hour, only slightly above the average walking speed. Congestion in Dhaka eats up 3.2 million working hours per day".
The World Bank Report adds, "Between 1995 and 2005, road surface in Dhaka increased by only 5.0 per cent, while population increased by 50 per cent and traffic by 134 per cent. Dhaka's urbanisation originated along the northern corridor of the central region, and then expanded westward. Its eastern half is mostly rural but has the potential to develop rapidly. Accounting for 40 per cent of the city's surface, it has the advantage of being within 5.0 kilometres of prosperous areas like Gulshan, which can help support its growth through capital and human resource investments".
Twenty years ago, the average speed of vehicles on the Dhaka roads was 25 kilometres per hour. After five years, it became 18 km per hour. Dhaka Integrated Transport Study (DITS) measured that speed for the first time in 1994. The same report was prepared by the DUTP (Dhaka Urban Transport Plan) in 1998. Now, the revised STP (Strategic Transport Plan) says that the average speed of motor vehicles on the roads of Dhaka city is only 6.4 km per hour. That means, the mobility of the city-dwellers has become almost stagnant. If this trend continues, then the whole city would come to a standstill after ten years.
TWO PAPERS: Two interesting papers were presented during the recently held 20th Biennial Conference of Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) on urban growth in Dhaka city and its impact. One titled "Rapid Urban Growth of Dhaka City & Its Socioeconomic Impact" was presented by Professor Sarder Syed Ahmed and Professor Md. Reazul Karim; while the other titled "Urbanisation and Economic Development of Bangladesh: The Primacy of Dhaka and Competitiveness" was presented by Sarder Syed Ahmed and Engineer Muntasir Ahmed.
The first paper mainly dwells on some chronic problems facing the Dhaka city-dwellers, viz. transport and communication, housing, utility services, environmental degradation and ramifications of ethical values in city life. It points out that Dhaka has the highest congestion index and one of the highest commuting times in South Asia. The situation has aggravated further due to the proliferation of large numbers of garments industries in the city, especially since the 1990s. It quotes a study which showed that there were a total of 2960 enlisted garments industries in the heart of Dhaka city, where over 1.0 million workers were employed. Nearly 47 per cent of the industries were localised in Airport Road, Rokeya Sarani, Progati Sarani and Mirpur Road. The workers of these industries cause around 600 thousand workers' movement every day while the industries in Motijheel and Dilkusha commercial areas cause movements of over 70 thousand workers in the central business areas. Besides, some public universities as well as over 50 private universities are situated inside the city corporation areas of Dhaka in addition to thousands of schools, colleges and madrasas. These, coupled with huge numbers of public and private sector employees, contribute to massive congestions in Dhaka metropolitan area.
Unplanned urbanisation and lack of administrative decentralisation have exacerbated the problems of housing, traffic flow, environmental degradation and erosion of ethical values in the city. Therefore, apart from proper urban planning, coordination and execution, the authors have recommended decentralisation of administration and shifting of universities and industries (especially garments) outside the city periphery for improving the multifarious and complex problems facing megacity Dhaka.
The second paper at the BEA conference focuses on urbanisation and economic development in Bangladesh and an analysis of Dhaka's primacy and competitiveness as a megacity. It analysed the primacy of Dhaka in terms of: a) economic density and contribution to GDP; b) employment density; c) agglomeration of population; d) agglomeration of economic activities; e) concentration of organisations; f) agglomeration of economics; g) market access; h) policy bias. While dwelling on the city's competitiveness, the authors lamented that due to excessive land price and high levels of house rent, the poor were forced to live in slums of Dhaka city. There were 9,048 slums in the urban areas of Bangladesh, of which 4,966 (i.e. 52 per cent) are located in Dhaka city alone. Around 40 per cent of the city's population live in these slums in inhuman conditions, where the average density is 15,000 to 20,000 persons per square acre. In addition, there are around 300 thousand floating and destitute people in the megacity.
Once Dhaka was famous as a beautiful city abundant with natural beauty and splendour, but now it has turned into a grey and unhealthy place full of dirt, CFC and the hue and cry of crowds. Only 22 per cent households have sewerage connections and merely 20 per cent of the city area is covered by the sewerage system. The rest, including slums and floating people, use unhygienic toilets or no toilets at all. Water logging is a common feature during rainy season due to faulty drainage system. Only half of the wastes are collected by the city corporation, while the rest remains scattered around dustbins, which are totally inadequate. In fact, Dhaka has now become one of the most unlivable cities in the world.
The authors pointed out that excessive concentration of economic activities in Dhaka city compared to its level of governance and infrastructure has serious growth cost for the nation as a whole. Too much urban concentration in the absence of concomitant improvement, lack of proper urban management and inadequate infrastructure carried associated economic costs in the form of congestion and pollution. Such costs are wide and extensive in Dhaka. Land has become very scarce and too costly and traffic congestion has increased commuter times to an unsustainable level. City-dwellers of Dhaka remain chronically dissatisfied due to excessive supply constraints amid the heavy pressure of over-population.
The authors lament that there is no room for ethical judgment in the urban planning process of Bangladesh. Natural environment has been seriously jeopardised due to the rapid urbanisation of megacity Dhaka. Water, air and soil have been severely polluted. The city has become unlivable due to excessive population, inadequate roads and infrastructure, and lack of open spaces. The rich enjoys most of the modern amenities, but majority of the population are compelled to lead a miserable and inhuman life. More than one-third of the population have to live in slums, who are deprived of basic human needs. A majority of the citizens do not have access to safe sanitation and pure drinking water, which are essential for human existence. The roads and streets are mostly occupied (70 per cent) by private cars owned by the rich and affluent families. Even the pedestrians are unable to walk freely in the footpaths due to their improper and illegal uses. And those in power appear to be completely oblivious and indifferent to the mounting plights of the city-dwellers over the years.
The sufferings of the city-dwellers of Dhaka remind us of the writings of Bert Hoselitz (1913-1995) who taught Economics and Social Science at the University of Chicago between 1945 and 1978 and wrote about the parasitic cities and their ill effects in developing countries like Bangladesh.

Dr. Helal Uddin Ahmed is a former editor of Bangladesh Quarterly.
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