Pushing people to the provinces…
It is not possible to move in Dhaka city. It is now not possible to predict the travel time for distances of barely two to three kilometres. It is no longer possible not to be hesitant to venture on to the street, on foot or on a vehicle, private or public.
The push factors generating in the jobless rural areas, coupled with the pull dynamics of the glitter and allure of the capital, have ensured that Dhaka be stretched beyond its means in almost any and every avenue of facility or service (depending on your viewpoint) housing, water, electricity, garbage disposal, you name it.
In today's piece however, Planner Prof. ASM Mahbubun Nabi aligns the mega city's transportation problem and population growth, and tries to knock down the two birds with one stone. Of particular appeal is calculated forecast that major buildings in Dhaka city will be forced to go vacant, should his plan of creating the nine provinces materialise. The three-tier administrative system in emulating the practice in monetarily advanced countries is also worth reckoning.
There cannot be any debate about the need to control the urbanisation (i.e. the growth of a city's area and population) of Dhaka City, as that is the root of all its ills. The argument boils down to who should be allowed to stay and why others should leave. The dispute begins and ends with the assumption that 'I' belong in the metropolis.
Whereas round the year it seems there is no place other than Dhaka for one-tenth of the country's population to live, earn, learn, eat, entertain and sleep, beg, borrow and steal; come some long-haul holiday, it becomes apparent that half or more of the city's people have some happier place to go to.
Decentralisation has indeed been toyed with for long in any discussion targeting to solve any given predicament of this 400-year old city, but creating actual provinces have in the past been nipped in the bud for fear of encouraging provinciality. The catch is that we will not know the effect of the changes until they have been caused.
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