Whither Dhaka city?

Dhaka is an over-congested, over-populated and over-polluted city

A city full of extremely rich and extremely poor migrant dwellers who are exploiting it, considering that as their at most responsibility. A city full of rented or owned, nice or rusty and clean or dusty cubicles which don’t allow the two-legged living beings who reside inside them, to look at the beautiful stars above it offered to enjoy for free. A city which was once full of potentials but now waiting for the right time as a time bomb inside Schrodinger’s box. All these metaphors need to be combined to get a true picture of our so-called beloved Dhaka city, the most densely populated city in the whole world.

Though this city has been one of the fastest growing megacities for decades; it actually started with a safe population of 2.2 million in 1975. According to United Nations “World Urbanization Prospects”, there is no city in the world which has gone through such high growth rate in terms of population. They characterized the symptom as ‘exceptional’. This very problem along with its other associates have forced the city to be affected with severe poverty and social vulnerability, exceptionally poor quality of physical and social environment, extreme shortage of housing, infrastructure and social services and very inefficient urban management.

We have been getting tastes of these for so many years but couldn’t care less. Now, in the recent days, things are really beyond our control. We have been facing severe water logging around the city and that also together with intolerable traffic congestion which has made the lives of the dwellers really inconvenient. Also the outbreak of Chikungunia shouldn’t be ignored. Though, the threat was predicted a year ago and the concerned government agencies were warned to prepare for it; there were lack of coordination and knowledge among the officials and strategists about the steps for preventive measures (Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research). Bangladesh signed for a bid to mitigate Dengue with World Health Organization (WHO) which also covered about the necessary measures to address a Chikungunia outbreak. But, officials from City Corporations said that, they were not aware of the guidelines from WHO which were also adopted by the Government of Bangladesh. Naturally when the outbreak occurred, the government officials denied responsibility.

A conclusion can easily be drawn that, Dhaka is an over-congested, over-populated and over-polluted city. It is not that, the caregiver authorities are not trying to overcome the problems. But, their approach and past history says that, they are always habituated to cover their tracks of negligence whenever any disaster occurs. For example, recently we have seen the mud throwing on the recent water-logging issue between WASA and City Corporation.

The blame game of the caregivers not only shows that, they don’t care but also says that, the habit is not going away very soon. It has become an inevitable part of the authoritative and bureaucratic culture.

We have a common practice to blame the human-pulled slow moving rickshaws as leading reasons for traffic congestion. But, now we know that, it is not. Our average km/hour speed was 21 few years back which have now become 7 and very soon it is going to be 4! Without looking around for real reasons all we do is nagging and blaming the ones who can’t defense themselves, as they don’t have the voice to speak up in the society. Industries, financial institutions , NGO’s, all corporate headquarters, higher educational facilities and even the biggest international airport of the country is located in the city or very near around. They attract people from every corner of the country.

The trickledown effect of low quality public transportation services for this enormous number of dwellers has presented us with fiercely increased number of private transportations which makes us inefficient on roads more than ever. Lack of knowledge about traffic rules and regulations among pedestrians, passengers and drivers; occupation of 60 per cent of more than 200 km footpath and sidewalks by street front shops, contractions materials, garbage; poorly coordinated engineering and urban planning; lack of co-ordination among the regulatory authorities like City Corporations (both North and South), RHD, BRTA, BRTC, DTCA and DMP; inadequate and illegal parking facilities etc. has pulled us down at this position. And, this is only one of the many sides of the box.

In another side remains the water logging problem. A city is required to have at least 12 per cent of water bodies compared to its total area. The city had a master plan in 1959, from which nothing was implemented except 3 or 4 targets, due to political instability again, after independence we had several structural plans, 2 to 5 years plans, DAP (Detailed Area Plan) and so on. But, for sure the citizens and caregivers, no one acted by the code. As a result, only 43mm rain in the middle of a day could stop the dwellers regular life. Words of development are just bouncing from WASA to City Corporation and LGRD to Planning Commission. Every one of them convinced the press that, they would surely be ready in the upcoming years. And, we are used to it. As commuters we are used to with wading through knee or waist-deep water and few major or minor accidents on a rainy day. So that leads us to the other sides of the box.

A recent research done by the University of Delaware, USA unraveled the threat towards regional ground water resources due to over pumping in Dhaka. The city is heavily dependent on ground water extraction where more than 87 per cent of the water used by the dwellers daily is being extracted from this source (according to Unnyan Onneshan).

Researchers working in Dhaka said that, over pumping of ground water to supply one of the planet’s largest cities could be jeopardizing the future supply for citizens living outside the city center (Science Daily). Our ground water has dropped more than 200 feet over the last 50 years and the present declining rate is 9 feet per year. One of the researchers, Holly Michael who holds the Unidel Fraser Russell Chair for the environment and also as also Associate Professor of geology at the University of Delaware said, “It is an environment justice problem because the people who benefit from the city water supply are not the people whose wells are at risk of contamination….. Arsenic contamination only exists outside of the city. There, if a community’s well becomes contaminated because of what’s happening in Dhaka, they may not have another source of safe water”.

Now, all these problems, starting from unbearably increased population to weak and fragile infrastructure, hampered supply of amenities, high inequality etc. these are all results of weak institutions, improper planning and implementation, lack of honesty and foresight among responsible caregivers, absence of constant supervision and feedback of works done by contractors, ignorance towards regulations and codes, chaos in politics and power distributions etc. Some of these are global problems. But, not every megacity faces these problems. To address them properly, the first and foremost thing the government and regulatory authorities need to learn is, “how to honestly call a spade, a spade”.

The writer is a freelancer E-mail: [email protected] Contact no: +8801796 24 86 23

 

 

 

Whither Dhaka city?

Dhaka is an over-congested, over-populated and over-polluted city

A city full of extremely rich and extremely poor migrant dwellers who are exploiting it, considering that as their at most responsibility. A city full of rented or owned, nice or rusty and clean or dusty cubicles which dont allow the two-legged living beings who reside inside them, to look at the beautiful stars above it offered to enjoy for free. A city which was once full of potentials but now waiting for the right time as a time bomb inside Schrodingers box. All these metaphors need to be combined to get a true picture of our so-called beloved Dhaka city, the most densely populated city in the whole world. Though this city has been one of the fastest growing megacities for decades; it actually started with a safe population of 2.2 million in 1975. According to United Nations World Urbanization Prospects, there is no city in the world which has gone through such high growth rate in terms of population. They characterized the symptom as exceptional. This very problem along with its other associates have forced the city to be affected with severe poverty and social vulnerability, exceptionally poor quality of physical and social environment, extreme shortage of housing, infrastructure and social services and very inefficient urban management. We have been getting tastes of these for so many years but couldnt care less. Now, in the recent days, things are really beyond our control. We have been facing severe water logging around the city and that also together with intolerable traffic congestion which has made the lives of the dwellers really inconvenient. Also the outbreak of Chikungunia shouldnt be ignored. Though, the threat was predicted a year ago and the concerned government agencies were warned to prepare for it; there were lack of coordination and knowledge among the officials and strategists about the steps for preventive measures (Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research). Bangladesh signed for a bid to mitigate Dengue with World Health Organization (WHO) which also covered about the necessary measures to address a Chikungunia outbreak. But, officials from City Corporations said that, they were not aware of the guidelines from WHO which were also adopted by the Government of Bangladesh. Naturally when the outbreak occurred, the government officials denied responsibility. A conclusion can easily be drawn that, Dhaka is an over-congested, over-populated and over-polluted city. It is not that, the caregiver authorities are not trying to overcome the problems. But, their approach and past history says that, they are always habituated to cover their tracks of negligence whenever any disaster occurs. For example, recently we have seen the mud throwing on the recent water-logging issue between WASA and City Corporation. The blame game of the caregivers not only shows that, they dont care but also says that, the habit is not going away very soon. It has become an inevitable part of the authoritative and bureaucratic culture. We have a common practice to blame the human-pulled slow moving rickshaws as leading reasons for traffic congestion. But, now we know that, it is not. Our average km/hour speed was 21 few years back which have now become 7 and very soon it is going to be 4! Without looking around for real reasons all we do is nagging and blaming the ones who cant defense themselves, as they dont have the voice to speak up in the society. Industries, financial institutions , NGOs, all corporate headquarters, higher educational facilities and even the biggest international airport of the country is located in the city or very near around. They attract people from every corner of the country. The trickledown effect of low quality public transportation services for this enormous number of dwellers has presented us with fiercely increased number of private transportations which makes us inefficient on roads more than ever. Lack of knowledge about traffic rules and regulations among pedestrians, passengers and drivers; occupation of 60 per cent of more than 200 km footpath and sidewalks by street front shops, contractions materials, garbage; poorly coordinated engineering and urban planning; lack of co-ordination among the regulatory authorities like City Corporations (both North and South), RHD, BRTA, BRTC, DTCA and DMP; inadequate and illegal parking facilities etc. has pulled us down at this position. And, this is only one of the many sides of the box. In another side remains the water logging problem. A city is required to have at least 12 per cent of water bodies compared to its total area. The city had a master plan in 1959, from which nothing was implemented except 3 or 4 targets, due to political instability again, after independence we had several structural plans, 2 to 5 years plans, DAP (Detailed Area Plan) and so on. But, for sure the citizens and caregivers, no one acted by the code. As a result, only 43mm rain in the middle of a day could stop the dwellers regular life. Words of development are just bouncing from WASA to City Corporation and LGRD to Planning Commission. Every one of them convinced the press that, they would surely be ready in the upcoming years. And, we are used to it. As commuters we are used to with wading through knee or waist-deep water and few major or minor accidents on a rainy day. So that leads us to the other sides of the box. A recent research done by the University of Delaware, USA unraveled the threat towards regional ground water resources due to over pumping in Dhaka. The city is heavily dependent on ground water extraction where more than 87 per cent of the water used by the dwellers daily is being extracted from this source (according to Unnyan Onneshan). Researchers working in Dhaka said that, over pumping of ground water to supply one of the planets largest cities could be jeopardizing the future supply for citizens living outside the city center (Science Daily). Our ground water has dropped more than 200 feet over the last 50 years and the present declining rate is 9 feet per year. One of the researchers, Holly Michael who holds the Unidel Fraser Russell Chair for the environment and also as also Associate Professor of geology at the University of Delaware said, It is an environment justice problem because the people who benefit from the city water supply are not the people whose wells are at risk of contamination.. Arsenic contamination only exists outside of the city. There, if a communitys well becomes contaminated because of whats happening in Dhaka, they may not have another source of safe water. Now, all these problems, starting from unbearably increased population to weak and fragile infrastructure, hampered supply of amenities, high inequality etc. these are all results of weak institutions, improper planning and implementation, lack of honesty and foresight among responsible caregivers, absence of constant supervision and feedback of works done by contractors, ignorance towards regulations and codes, chaos in politics and power distributions etc. Some of these are global problems. But, not every megacity faces these problems. To address them properly, the first and foremost thing the government and regulatory authorities need to learn is, how to honestly call a spade, a spade. The writer is a freelancer E-mail: [email protected] Contact no: +8801796 24 86 23