The focus on urbanisation in the country at an international conference held in the city has, for reasons understandable, been pointed and intense. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is showing all the symptoms of a dying city. It is wilting under its own weight. Although Bangladesh is lagging behind some of its South Asian neighbours in the pace of urbanisation, the prediction is that by 2040-45 more people will live in urban accommodations than in villages. If this is so, why burden Dhaka alone with streams of migrant people from all corners of the country? Dhaka and other large cities have experienced sprawling growth under no comprehensive plan. No wonder that 19 per cent of urban population lives in informal settlements -slums to be precise. The concentration of slums in Dhaka is heavier than in any other city of the country. The life is hard and miserable there but still people opt for living there because the capital city at least offers them some kind of employment -even if it involves hard labour.
Unplanned development of the capital is exacting a heavy price on its residents. Today, its transport system is in a shambles, environmental pollution is worse than most such mega cities in the world, physical infrastructure is under heavy pressure, open space and recreation facilities are few and far between and most services prove inadequate. Living in the city is nightmarish. Conditions are becoming from bad to worse day by day. A few mega projects undertaken will not be able to stem the slide unless some radical measures are taken to contain the city's decline. Before the city turns completely dysfunctional, the most important task would be to take the pressure off the capital.
Experts have long suggested developing well-planned urban centres all across the country. Decentralisation of administration should be the first step towards that direction. There is no point housing all the headquarters of different sectors and agencies in Dhaka. Some of the ministries, directorates and departments can easily be shifted to locations outside Dhaka. If there is no need for crowding the capital for official purposes, people will feel no need to come to Dhaka. Even college principals and school headmasters have to visit Dhaka for purposes that can be taken care of in offices located away from Dhaka.
By the time such steps are taken, satellite towns have to be earmarked for development within a specific timeframe. If such towns have all the amenities of modern life along with standard schools, colleges and state-of-the-art hospitals, people will feel no temptation to visit a city as chaotic as Dhaka. But fotdragging on this count has been a malignant problem with the capital city's development authorities, or to be exact, the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (Rajuk). The case of Purbachal, besides a couple of other similar projects, can be cited here. The concerned authorities are showing a lackadaisical approach to even issuing work orders for different sectors of those areas. This has been causing inordinate delays in completing those projects, often leading to cost overruns.
Once the satellite towns are completed, focus should be directed to developing smaller towns in rural setting. The benefit of such urbanisation is that inhabitants there will enjoy the best of both worlds. Now that Bangladesh is financially on a better footing than before, it should gradually go for such urbanisation keeping in view the need for maintaining clean environment. In that case, governance ought to be in favour of stronger and more independent local administration.
