New dimension to urban governance
THE election schedule of Dhaka City Corporation might be announced soon by the Bangladesh Election Commission. Many possible candidates, old and new, are actively lobbying to reorganise their supporters for launching campaigns in their favour for the posts of mayor and councilors as nominees of their political party.
It is appreciated that politicians and veteran social workers are keen to provide the urban population with comfortable living in terms of health, sanitation, sewerage, disease control and, above all, utility services like gas, electricity, safe drinking water, solid waste disposal, unadulterated food etc., with reasonable taxation, while also ensuring public security.
All prospective candidates are not adequately informed about emerging issues of urban governance or possible ways of overcoming urban challenges for improving community living with social security, food safety and secure mobility. The quality of life in urban areas includes freedom from hunger, environment to live a healthy life, access to education, shelter and basic services and above all, a secure and livable environment at home and workplace.
Rapid urbanisation often disrupts the social, cultural and religious values and pattern of people's lives. The integration of migrants from traditional life-styles to the more individualistic character of an urban community sometimes generates conflict and unrest -- as observed in Karachi, Jakarta or Manila. All these issues are important for understanding the realities of governance of cities and municipalities, which requires leadership with greater control over development that does not impinge upon the rights of others.
In Bangladesh, around 30% of the population lives in 6 city corporations and 309 municipalities. This may increase to more than 50% by 2040 as the demographic trend indicates. Dhaka shall be the 4th mega city of the world by 2025, with a population of 22 million, and Tokyo will be at the top (36.4 million) followed by Mumbai and Delhi. (Source: UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs/ Population Division.)
The present density of population per square kilometer in Dhaka city, with 35% occupied by slums dwellers, is around 27,700, and around 7.8 lakh people are entering the city every year for settlement. A study reveals that there are at present 9,446 slums in the country, of which Dhaka accounts for 54.9% Chittagong 20%, Rajshahi 8.3%, Khulna 7% and Barisal 3.9%.
With the growth of cities with slums and squatters, poverty is increasingly becoming urbanised, with many urban poor living in absolute poverty. So the scenario is alarming and challenging too, since Dhaka is surrounded by rivers and has little possibility of expanding.
Maintaining the challenges as before, the prospective candidates contesting for election of Dhaka City Corporation have started campaigning without making commitments to turn this mega-city into one that is habitable, green, clean and free from fear of disease, congestion and pollution.
It is high time for policy makers to decide whether to introduce metropolitan government with few separate cities like Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Gulshan, Sutrapur, Sadarghat etc., or make groups of wards and decentralise the functions of governance, municipal finance and authorities accordingly.
The ministries of urban development in many countries formulate policy guidelines and coordinate activities relating to urban challenges -- political, technical, and administrative -- along with other public welfare issues. The Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives as at present, is a concept developed when 90 % of the people were living in rural areas during the '70s and union council or thana council and district councils played pivotal roles in public welfare and development.
Now, it appears to be really difficult for it to address the issues of 482 upazila parishads and 4,550 union parishads with the integration of so many issues of rural development and public concern. Thus, creation of a new ministry of urban development would be a timely action. Government functionaries could look into urban development issues more closely and have better coordination with other actors responsible for providing facility services, infrastructure development, municipal financing, environmental health.
The country has entered the urban millennium and cities shall flourish as engines of growth and incubators of civilisation. Cities shall emerge more strongly as places of politics, extensive intellectual effervescence and innovations. These cities could be places of exploitation, disease, violence, crime and, above all, extreme poverty. So it must be the choice of citizens to make their own cities more attractive and livable -- with reasonable comfort and sufficient security.
With more and more people preferring cities for settling in, the challenge lies not in stemming this trend of migration but in managing and governing cities better to improve quality of life and living standard.
Therefore, it is the right time to ponder very carefully how to manage the urban development issues from economic, political, social and environmental considerations. There should be electoral reforms and governance and administrative reorganisation. The critical issues shall be delivery of urban services, attracting investment in infrastructure development and inviting visitors. For these purposes, attention should be on managing risks and vulnerabilities, and assuring safety of lives with comfort of living and movement.
The leadership needs to state with firm conviction whether election is for political hegemony or for making the mega-city habitable for a large population, reflecting the tastes and choices of the city dwellers, rich and poor.
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