If living quality is an indicator of happy life, the position of Dhaka can better be imagined than described, at least on the basis of successive international survey findings. Not infrequently over the last few years, various survey reports by international organisations ranked Dhaka as the least or close to being the least livable city in the world.
One such recent report was published in February 2016 by US private organisation Mercer which was based on a survey carried out in 440 cities of the world. Dhaka has been ranked 214th in a list of 230 cities in terms of quality of living. In the report titled 'Quality of living ranking 2016' Dhaka lies way behind cities of neighbouring Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan. More importantly, it is found perilously close to cities like Baghdad and Damascus. These two cities which lie at the bottom of the list, have witnessed continual violence and terrorist attacks in recent years. Baghdad is also rated the lowest in terms of personal safety, one of the main components of living quality.
Vienna, however, continues to be at the top of the list for overall quality of living for the seventh time in international surveys. The Austrian capital is followed by Zurich and Geneva of Switzerland, Auckland of New Zealand, Munich of Germany, Vancouver of Canada, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt of Germany, Copenhagen of Denmark and Sydney of Australia. Vancouver is North America's highest ranking city. Singapore is the highest ranking city in Asia with 26th place leaving Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Manila, and Jakarta long way behind. In the Far East, Tokyo occupies the highest position with 44th spot. Other notable cities in this region like Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai, and Beijing are far behind in the race at 70, 84, 101 and 118th positions respectively.
The ground level situation in Dhaka is almost the same as that of most cities of the region, but it sits at the bottom of the list. It may sound tricky but survey report says so. Question that pertinently arises is why Dhaka is so close to Baghdad or Damascus in terms of living quality although there is no war or humanitarian crisis here. With similar situation, many other cities have ranked higher.
The reasons are not far to seek. Firstly, looking from the top Dhaka looks like a jungle of concrete with interminably long traffic choking the roads. In fact, the moment we step out of the house we are awestruck by the traffic gridlock at every corner of the roads. It is equally difficult if some one prefers to walk rather than take a car. There is hardly any room to walk along the footpaths as most of them are occupied by mobile vendors and hawkers. If Dhaka is to be made livable, one of the first few things to be done is to free the footpaths from illegal occupants. According to the Hawker Associations, out of 260,000 hawkers in Dhaka, around 150,000 sell on footpaths and the rest move around residential areas with their wares. The number increases by another 25,000 before every Eid festival.
According to a national daily, these hawkers spend Tk.50 to Tk.300 as toll per day to transact their businesses and the total daily tolls collected in this way amounts to Tk.26 millions and the annual collection amounts to over Tk.9.0 billions. The toll goes to some dishonest members of law enforcing agencies and people with high political links and that is why, it has become impossible to evict illegal occupants from the footpaths.
It is not only the long queue of vehicles halting the movement of the people, it is also the volume of carbon emission from vehicular traffic that has kept the level of air pollution considerably high and therefore the quality of living low.
Safety is the key factor in determining quality of living, particularly for the expatriates. Dhaka's record in terms of personal safety, mainly work place safety, is not particularly encouraging. The tragedy at Rana Plaza and quite a few cases of forced disappearances appear to have made lasting impact on the thinking of the international community. At the same time, political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement, etc) matter a lot in ensuring the overall quality of living. Although calm appears to have descended on the political front, according to many it is a case of uneasy quiet. Memories of political turmoil of the recent past still haunt us. In contrast, despite successive incidents of mass rape followed by murder that raised furor across the world, New Delhi ranks much higher than Dhaka simply because the criminals involved in the incidents were brought to justice quickly and enforcement of law was prompt and immediate. Similarly, following considerable political unrest and terrorist attacks in several tourist areas over the last few years, Bangkok ranked higher in personal safety compared to Dhaka.
Quality of living also largely influences investment decisions of the foreign investors. Stagnating foreign investment here may be attributed to the fact that the expats are still unsure of the sustainability of political stability in the country. There are other contributors like economic environment (currency exchange regulations, banking services), medical and health considerations (medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution etc), public services and transportation (electricity, water, public transportation, traffic congestion etc) and natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters) factors.
The rankings of south Asian cities may be looked at in order to assess our position. The vast region of Asia has considerable variation in quality of living. With 26th place globally, Singapore remains as the highest ranking city, whereas Dhaka with 214th is the lowest and is close to Damascus, capital of war ravaged Syria which is at 224th place. Cities of Colombo followed by Hyderabad, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, and New Delhi of India and Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi of Pakistan are ahead of Dhaka.
Mercer's survey is a comprehensive one and is conducted annually. What is notable in this year's report is that despite economic uncertainties, West European cities continue to enjoy some of the best amenities in determining quality of living worldwide as they fill first seven of the top ten slots. European cities also dominate the top of the personal safety rankings with Luxembourg in the lead, followed by Bern, Helsinki, and Zurich, which are tied for the number-two spot. A number of key or capital cities rank considerably low as many suffered either terrorist attacks or social unrest in the last few years. For example, Paris (71), London (72), Madrid (84), and Athens (124).The recent political and economic turmoil in Greece, which resulted in violent demonstrations in Athens and other cities in the country, has undermined its safety ranking vis-à-vis quality of living.
In another recent report of similar nature, titled 'World Happiness Report' published jointly by Sustainable Development Solutions Network and Earth Institute of Columbia University, USA, Bangladesh has been ranked 110th among 157 countries chosen for the survey. The report was published on March 16, 2016 on the eve of World Happiness Day on March 20. Here also Bangladesh has been way behind neighbouring countries, such as China, Bhutan, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India and Myanmar which occupied 83, 84, 92, 107, 117, 118 and 119 spots respectively. There is hardly any qualitative difference between the two reports with both presenting a similar situation with sufficient reasoning and explanation. With all this in and around us, are we living with life's gift or with life's woes?
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