Dhaka, the second worst city
Courtesy Financial Express 10/3/10
Shamsul Huq Zahid
Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, has been rated by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) as the second worst city in the world in terms of living conditions. Surprise, surprise!
The Dhakaites even would not have been surprised had their city been placed at the very bottom of the table of the 140 global cities in the survey conducted by the EIU, the business information arm of the London-based Economist Group, elbowing out the Zimbabwean capital Harare.
The survey found Dhaka with a population of over 13 million scoring below the average marks in five broad categories that citizens of towns and cities most care about: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Bangladesh has found a companion in Algiers of African state of Algeria, each scoring 38.7 points. Harare scored 37.5 points.
The EIU survey finding has come at a time when many people are found expressing their deep resentment about the fast deteriorating living conditions in Dhaka city.
Harare has hit the bottom of the table because of unending social and political crises, mainly triggered by autocratic rule of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. One can well imagine the situation in a country where rate of annual inflation is almost beyond counting. A cup of coffee and a bottle of mineral water now cost several million Zimbabwean dollars. One has to carry to the market a sack of currency notes to buy a chicken there. And Zimbabwe is yet to see a turnaround of its situation, following the political 'reconciliation process' and the assumption of office by a new prime minister.
But the situation in the case of Dhaka is totally different. The country has witnessed an average economic growth between 5.0 and 6.0 per cent over last two decades. The rate of annual average inflation only once reached the double digit during the year 2008 because of domestic and external factors. There were political crises, but mostly in transient nature.
Actually, Dhaka city has become un-livable mainly because of indifference, mismanagement and wrong planning, continuing over the years in an uninterrupted sequence. The authorities have failed to create a situation where the citizens can live in minimum comfort both within and outside their homes. They suffer most because of the lack of necessary infrastructures; power and gas supply is highly erratic, water crisis is most common during summer, drainage and swear system is extremely under-developed. Nearly one-third of the population lives in slums having no basic amenities of life.
Healthcare system is highly discriminatory. Health facilities mostly cater to the needs of the affluent section and middleclass people. The public sector health facilities that are generally visited by the poor and lower middle class people are inadequate. Many patients are accommodated on the floor or corridors of the government-run hospitals where supply of medicines is very scanty.
The quality of education imparted to students in educational institutions varies widely. The guardians, at the beginning of every academic year, are found engaged in a rat race to get their children admitted to a handful number of educational institutions providing quality education. The public universities cannot accommodate even a fraction of the seeking admission. The quality of education offered by a large number of private universities is being questioned very often and the tuition fees charged by these institutions are high.
The city's traffic system is in a total mess. The authorities concerned, apparently, have given up hope with regard to streamlining it. Commuters remain stuck up in traffic gridlock for hours together as it takes more than three hours to cross a distance of 10 to 12 kilometres. The government is talking about building cost-intensive expressways, flyovers and underground rail system. It would take several years to get those facilities in place. But in the meanwhile, city's traffic system is destined to turn worse.
The woes of Dhaka city are very much linked to wrong economic planning and reluctance of the successive governments to decentralize the decision-making powers.
Since the government failed to create enough employment opportunities in rural areas, unemployed people have been coming to Dhaka in particular in search of jobs. There is no going back, no matter whether they get jobs or not. The city is not in a position to take the load of an unending inflow of population from mufassil areas.
Moreover, the decision making process has been made so much centralized that even for a petty decision, the people concerned are forced to come to Dhaka for lobbying. Hundreds of people come to Dhaka everyday just for lobbying purpose.
The government would have to bring about radical changes in the decision- making process with delegation of more authorities to district and thana level officials.