DHAKA stands at a precipice, with its rapid urbanisation and unchecked growth threatening to render it uninhabitable. A report presented at the dialogue, 鈥楥omplexities of the Detailed Area Plan: towards sustainable urbanisation鈥�, highlights the pressing need for both administrative and development decentralisation to relieve Dhaka of it overwhelming population pressure and render the capital more liveable. The speakers, convened by the Centre for Governance Studies, emphasised that coordination among relevant ministries and agencies is essential for an effective urban development. The detailed area plan was derided as a novel form of 鈥榰rban terror鈥�, lamenting unregulated industrial and educational developments in residential zones and citizens鈥� disappointment about policy-making. Speakers have also urged better collaboration between Rajuk, the food and the environment ministry and the Planning Commission. It was mentioned that the revised floor area ratio guidelines have sparked off debate: a low ratio pushes horizontal sprawl and over-stresses infrastructure while a high ratio supports vertical density but only when paired with transit-oriented development, mixed-use planning and green building standards. Speakers said that an increaed ratio alone would worsen Dhaka鈥檚 condition, suggesting that decentralisation as the only way forward amid allegations that real estate developers, in a nexus with public officials, have encroached on wetland.
The challenges of concentrating services and growth in Dhaka are stark. In traffic, the city suffers severe congestion, with the average speed dropping below 4.8km/h in 2023, down from 21km/h a decade earlier, and passengers wasting 3.2 million working hours daily. A lack of integrated road network and feeder streets exacerbates the paralysis while only 7聽 per cent of urban land is covered by roads, far below cities in the developed world. In education and health care, Dhaka鈥檚 dominance means that regional centres remain under-resourced. More than 80聽 per cent of administrative offices, industries and educational institutions are in Dhaka. This reinforces rural-to-urban migration driven by crowded but accessible services, leaving peripheral areas deprived. The environmental and livability indicators, moreover, show the city鈥檚 low ranking. Dhaka was among the least liveable cities globally, scoring poorly in health care, education, environment and infrastructure. Pollution, water stagnation and the loss of open spaces, intensify health and environmental pressure. Education and health lag elsewhere, too. Despite urban concentration, quality and access remain inconsistent while rural areas face neglect. Overall, by decentralising administrative, industrial, educational and healthcare infrastructure, pressure would ease on the transport systems, services would become more equitable across regions and liveability could improve nationwide.
The authorities should, therefore, urgently find solutions that include devolving administrative authority and relocating services to regional centres, establishing well-planned satellite towns and boosting public transit connecting them; enforcing the floor-area ration linked with sustainable, mixed-use development and green building; and restoring wetlands and open spaces. The measures combined would relieve Dhaka of strain, stem migration and restore liveability both in Dhaka and in outlying areas.
