DHAKA, a teeming capital, is a living example of what happens when urbanisation can outstrip planning. A sprawling city with more than 20 million, it is about to explode. Its crowded, polluted streets, survival struggles and squalor tell the story of a desperate metropolis. Every morning, millions of Dhaka residents endure agonising commutes, stuck in traffic that snakes across the city for hours. Collisions are frequent, fires blaze in packed neighborhoods and toxic pollution fills the air. Infrastructure that was designed for a much smaller population is overloaded.
Roads, utilities and emergency services cannot keep pace. Traffic pandemonium is the way things are. Roads overflow with rickshaws, buses, privately owned cars and pedestrians, trying to compete for space. Ambulances and fire engines often arrive late because of a chronically choked network of roads. In dense population centres, where there are narrow, crowded lanes of traffic, fires kill when fire fighters cannot get to the scene. Factor in the frequent chemical hazards coming from factories running within residential areas and it is obvious that the dangers are ever-present.
Dhaka鈥檚 environmental conditions are dire. The air pollution level often exceeds the world health standard. Auto emissions, industrial waste and dust from construction have created a toxic atmosphere. The toll of breathing this air day after day adds up and contributes to increasingly high rates of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Noise pollution compounds the misery. The incessant honking of horns and machinery is contributing to hearing loss, sleepless nights and stress. Water is another contributing issue. A toxic cocktail of pollution, poor treatment and reliance on bottled water eat into health and household budgets. Heat, also, rises, helped along by the vanishing green and ceaseless stretch of concrete. For far too many, access to even basic cooling is still unattainable.
At the heart of the crisis is the stranglehold of centralisation. Almost everything, from ministries and military bases to universities and leading hospitals, is in Dhaka. This concentration has a magnetic effect on the rest of the country where people come for job, education and health care. Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport is in the middle of the city, adding to noise and constraining development. There is a great deal of army and air force land. Even the navy headquarters and river police are in Dhaka although they could be placed in Chattogram. Dhaka is the home to the most important media and share markets. This lopsided level of focus actually pushes more migration into the city and chokes the city鈥檚 ability to breathe. Rural students flock to Dhaka for quality education. The only option for the people facing a medical emergency is to storm the capital鈥檚 overstretched hospitals. Business and job opportunities are heavily focused in and around Dhaka, an apparel hub that has millions of workers. Even the informal street vending and transport sectors are over-saturated but still a matter of survival for many.
Even for those who do not live in Dhaka, it is necessary to make trips there often. The city鈥檚 population swells by several million through the tens of millions of daily commutes from surrounding towns. Public transport is stretched thin. Buses are dangerous and packed to the gills. Trains do not move, or move unpredictably. Other transports are not necessarily affordable, and on and on. This daily flow of commuters impacts not only the capital but a wider area. Roads are permanently snarled and public services strained by the permanent population and waves of migrant workers.
Acting as if nothing is amiss is not only bad for Dhaka. It is bad for the whole nation. One problem with centralising jobs, education and services is that it stunts growth in other regions, creating a cycle of inequality. Young, skilled workers who could transform remote villages into unstoppable powerhouses of bulk carton production escape to the city, delaying their own progress. Economic costs are staggering. Cumulatively, traffic congestion alone squanders billions of dollars in lost time and fuel. Health problems from pollution make medical costs rise. Families are divided as working-age adults leave for the city. Issues such as increased crime and stress are on the rise.
Bangladesh has to shift from its Dhaka-centred structure. Other cities need to be built up to share the burden and make real alternatives available. For relocating government offices and private sector units, the commercial capital Chattogram is an obvious choice. Its port and infrastructure already handle big trade flows. Rajshahi, Sylhet, Khulna and Barisal must become specialised regional cities. Dhaka鈥檚 universities, hospitals and administrative institutions need to be replicated all over the country. Providing tax breaks and making infrastructure investments can make these cities more appealing to businesses.
Modern technology offers solutions. The requirement for physical travel to Dhaka could be minimised through smart traffic systems, online services and improved digital infrastructure. Thought needs to be given to zoning 鈥� residential, commercial and industrial 鈥� with all appropriate protections for the environment. The burden can be alleviated with significant investment in public transit 鈥� metros, safe buses, regional trains. Environmental regulations must be enforced. Green spaces must be defended and increased. Mixed-use planning has to be done carefully, not randomly.
Other countries offer examples. South Korea developed Sejong City in order to cut congestion in Seoul. Bras铆lia became the capital of Brazil. Nigeria moved from Lagos to Abuja. Bangladesh does not have to adopt a new capital, but it does have to initiate the move of key functions and institutions.
Dhaka鈥檚 crisis is not intractable. Time is, however, running out. The city cannot hold the weight of the whole nation. For the only viable alternative is a true decentralisation, not as a policy proposal, but as a concrete reform. This would require the relocation of administrative power, economic enterprise and educational and healthcare infrastructure throughout the country.
The citizens of Dhaka deserve better. So do those across Bangladesh who are compelled to migrate because they have no alternatives. A more evenhanded development would also take the burden off the capital and realise the potential of the entire nation. The choice is stark: seize it firmly and act now or continue to watch Dhaka collapse under the weight of its own problems. For the sake of the future, it is now time to decentralise.
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Dr Ala Uddin ([email protected]), is a professor of anthropology in the University of Chittagong.