Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque :
Dhaka is expanding at a rapid stride both in area and population. It is a capital as well as cosmopolitan city with a population of over 13 million people. Tremendous growth of population in the city due to rural-urban migration and increasing human urge to settle in Dhaka has rendered it difficult for the concerned authorities to mange urban development in the city. More,m there is floating population. City environment has worsened in Dhaka in the wake of unplanned urbanization. There is hardly any marked development over the years. The authorities are spending lavishly mostly in unproductive sectors without producing any commensurate results. But there is rampant corruption and blame game to account much for fuzzy urban governance.
Chittagong is a commercial capita throbbing with business activities. Recently high rising buildings are springing up. But roads for moving around the port city are few. There are no alternative roads. There are some over bridges remaining unused occupied by the hawkers. The pedestrians do not think it safe to cross the road using over bridges. Even then GEC avenue now busy town should have over bridge. For traffic jam renders it difficult for the pedestrians to cross roads.
The city dwellers in both Dhaka and Chittagong are not at all satisfied with the performance of the institutions that are responsible for managing metropolitan affairs. The institutions like DCC, RAJUK, CCC, CDA and a variety of public utilities have their ‘mode of working’ with ‘set-rules’. Nevertheless governance shortage has become acute with erratic urban management that cannot cater to the needs of a civilized community life at the city point. The environment has been vitiated by societal degeneration and escalating tension caused by miscreants and anti-socials. More, intolerable living conditions, unhygienic living conditions in squatter settlements, mushrooming of illegal structures, street accidents and heavy traffic congestion characterize urban life in Dhaka and Chittagong. The city is changing its face rapidly. Dhaka in no way can hold the image of being a green and clean city stumbling onto a bad shape in the process of unplanned urbanization. Chittagong too can not be called a clean city with natural infrastructures. As a columnist observed that, ‘Dhaka is becoming an urban jungle and everywhere you look there are apartment blocks sprouting like mushrooms. There are fewer houses with gardens. The flats are so close to each other that there is a lack of privacy. The children growing up in the flats do not have any outside access for recreation. No garden, no play ground.’ Unmanageable traffic troubles city dwellers. The traffic system has ‘swallowed millions of bucks and allowed thousand of defective, out modeled buses and other commercial vehicles to ply everywhere and take over the roads in a free style, which were previously occupied by rickshaws in a similar fashion.’ Life has become miserable with load shedding, low pressure of gas and dearth of pure drinking water.
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 and excessive vehicular movement in the afternoon during the Ramadan. 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.
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.’
A desirable state of urbanization with the overriding considerations of communications, traffic system, and housing and residential patterns has been stressed upon recently by the urban planners. What the city dwellers expect from the city development authority is a well planned city with a systematic clustering of houses in the residential area well connected to the city’s main points-administrative and commercial districts-through linking roads accessible by transports. Distressingly the tremendous growth of urban population in Dhaka has aggravated the crisis of unplanned urbanization in Dhaka with concrete jungles growing thickly all the way around and mushrooming of vehicles plying in a limited number of roads.
The capital city is growing vertically owing to lack of space. The question that may arise is whether RAJUK impose strict building codes to ensure construction of building in a manner that will not create concrete jungles even in narrow lanes inaccessible by bus, trucks, speedy ambulances and fire brigade. A few developers and builders follow ‘technically sound structural designs’.
Most of them perhaps do not bother to use ‘correct materials in correct proportions’. But construction of high-rise apartments is going on in an unimaginably fast pace. More, construction materials like sands and iron lying on pavement narrowing down space for the pedestrians to move is simply outrageous. Another formidable problem is solid waste mismanagement. Water logging in during rainy season due to filled up canals and defective drainage system and sewerage is another menace.
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.
Of late there has been an increasing institutional concern for a planned urbanization to make Dhaka suitable for living. RAJUK is supposed to do the needful according to Master Plan. The implementing agency like RAJUK has no adequate infrastructural facilities, manpower and recourses to implement the plan. Besides, co-ordination among the operating agencies is awfully missing.
The major contenders approached the voters with a list of electoral pledges It may be argued that the city mayors can hardly redeem the promises of change. We cannot expect much from the elected mayor. This is because this city body is not sufficiently empowered to fulfill mss expectations for a change. Its financial strength is limited with a poor taxation base. The image of city government is not reflected in position of City Corporation. So, the promise of doing the things with a long list of priorities is mere political gimmick to conjure up votes. From common feelings and general mass reactions against fuzzy urban governance it seems that they consider pledges, harangue, tall talks about change as catch phrases and common tactics employed in political game. A well informed voter commented ‘voting forced upon the silent masses helps the dominant groups to acquire legitimacy for wrong doing and wanton corruption. The post election scenario is one of frustration, increasing apathy and disenchantment’.
Among the issues highlighted included price hike, terrorism, negligence of the port city holding tax, licensed rate for cycle rickshaw, water logging, landslide and environmental degradation
Most observers opined that Dhaka city is simply unlivable. A survey ranked Dhaka top in terms of living conditions of the city dwellers. The city dwellers continue to suffer manifold problems with road conditions in lane and sub-lane remaining risk for them to move. They feel ill at ease going to and fro. There is hardly any open space for moving around and jogging.
Living in Chittagong is beginning to be intolerable. The conditions s in city roads/lane are deplorable. There is no electronic traffic system. Rickshaws ply everywhere even in high ways. No road is declared VIP to deter the movement cycle and rickshaw. The number of vehicles has multipled overtime with little or no alternative road. The result is gridlock. The important city points like Halisahor and GEC are busy time consuming for the pedestrians and passengers to reach home .
(Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque, Professor, Department of public Administration, Chittagong University)
