Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque :
We have urban government minus good. In other expression fairness in urban administration is distressingly missing. Governance has been defined by the World Bank as ‘the manner in which power is exercised in the management of country’s economic and social resources for development. UNDP programme’s policy documents define governance as ‘the exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to manage a country’s affairs at all levels. It comprises the mechanisms, processes and institutions, through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercises their legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate the differences. Based on this definitional premise urban governance may be defined as the manner in which city dwellers are ruled and the urban affais are administered and regulated. The emphasis here is on broadening the scope of civil society, the presence of pubic discourse, which forges a symbiotic relationship between the authority and the public through share and care. It also means accountability and transparency somewhat reflecting the voice of mobilized groups and association. The formation of civil societies and citizen bodies are crucial here.
The city must be an abode where urban citizens can lead a life fulfilling their lives in complete safety and equanimity. Distressingly years of neglect in addressing contemporary problem of urban governance has made the city as a landscape of environmental terrorism. Corruption has taken a heavy toll in various sectors of city management making sullying marks in the service delivery systems. Fuzzy governance in public utilities, RAJUK and City Corporations and paurasavas account much for sluggish implementation of development project and gratification of all illegal activities of the influential. We have a plenty of reports about pitfalls in urban administration. Managing tender for contractorship and approval of blueprints of buildings, residential and commerce, by offering kickbacks becomes proverbial. All such illegal actions in contravention of the existing rules are hardly accounted for. And the influential associated with ruling party hardly cares for rules and regulations. In fact he enjoys immunity from any legal action.
Under the building and construction act, all types of buildings including dwelling units and commercial establishment require a permit from RAJUK. Haphazard construction of buildings is going on unabated. A few persons comply with building codes. On the contrary it is easy to manage permit by exerting undue influence and by exploring any connections, kinship or fictive.
There are incidences of fire accidents in markets, apparel industries and residential buildings. We do not bother to think about the danger of violating building codes. Most builders of high rise buildings do not think in terms of ‘sound structural design’ based on ‘correct materials in correct proportion’.
‘The traffic is causing a standstill on the road for hours together thus’ thus causing tremendous hardships to the pedestrians. It is paralyzing day-to-day normal business and public and social services rendering it difficult for the traders, merchants, bankers and the actors involved in utility service to accomplish their respective tasks in time. The beneficiaries of services rendered by public and private sectors can not afford to get things done due to them without delay as the destinations where institutional buildings and commercial establishments are located are hard to reach. Those coming out of their homes on personal otherwise important errand become helplessly hopeless to see a queer street situation. According a recent report the government has to incur heavy financial loss due to rising traffic jam.
Urban experts and participants attending seminars and talk show listed old vehicles, road condition, excessive number of vehicles mishandling by traffic police, ignorance about traffic rules, too many pedestrians, and their wrong way of crossing road, narrow space of roads, lanes and by-lanes, excessive number rickshaws in non-VIP streets (in Dhaka) and contrasting speed of vehicles as the main reasons for worsening street situation.
Recently traffic management in the metropolitan cities like Dhaka and Chittagong has become the worst in the world. The traffic system has come to the verge of collapse. There is hardly any marked improvement in the management of traffic movement in main city points despite a plethora of meetings and seminars. Nothing tangible is being down to prevent the traffic system from stumbling onto the dark hole. According to the recent news paper reports cited by a columnist ‘the traffic police did not receive the message from the PM’s motorcade staff and hence she was stranded which was not bad.’ She got to see the first hand impression about the sufferings of the pedestrians everyday. It is a reminder that government’s directives are ‘not enough to get things done.’
Traffic jam that has worsened in Dhaka has causing untold sufferings to the city dwellers and commuters. The pedestrians are forced to remain stranded for hours on the streets at different points on the way to their respective destinations. Traffic congestion usually worsens due to the rush of the people in the peak hours- moving to and fro during office and school time, the movement of home bound people to enjoy weekend on Thursday. Traffic jam has increased appallingly in the residential areas too which is not a good sign. Now-a-days these areas are throbbing with commercial activities. More there are schools, private universities and colleges, tutorial homes and coaching centers resulting in the overflow of traffic in narrow lanes around these establishments. The parents in these areas that have turned into noisy and busy have to wade through heavy jams of cars, microbus, CNG auto rickshaws and cycle rickshaws to the schools to bring their children back.
Experts have so far provided numerous suggestions for combating traffic jam. The authorities are doing its best to remove urban jungles created by illegal structures and old automobiles, bus and trucks. Even then the road users and pedestrians can hardly feel the impacts of the actions taken by the implementing agencies. Despite all sincere efforts things have not changed to the extent desired. The city planners may well take the suggestion like reducing the number of automobiles privately used for consideration.
True the metropolitan cities are becoming crowed with huge number of city dwellers. There has been marked increased in the number of floating population moving to and fro from the busy commercial and administrative districts in the city. As a result of tremendous population pressure in Dhaka and Chittagong the number of private car, family pick up van, land rover, pajero and jeeps have increased appallingly. If one read all national and local dailies he will perhaps get news and column about traffic jam in one news paper or two. Some times news about traffic jam hit headlines with photos showing a panoramic view of the city street occupied by car and small vehicles.
Good governance in the main cities will not be a distant dream if the urban citizens are provided with accommodations. For the poor and fixed income groups possession of apartment is like possession of golden deer. Apartment culture in Dhaka and Chittagong has developed with high rise building mushrooming. Even due to escalating high rate per square feet it has been difficult for the most citizens doing white collar jobs to purchase a flat.
Either the affluents or those sending remittance from abroad can afford to possess a flat or two or more. Rajuk and CDA offer plot for sale through lottery. Private companies like Pubachal, Jhilmil, Asiana etc some times draw our attention to the purchse of plot with easy installments. Even then there may be some cases of not getting plot or complete flat in due time. These problems, if found, must be addressed properly.
(Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque, Professor, Department of Public Administration, Chittagong University)
