Dhaka remains as unfit a place to live in as ever
There is no improvement of Dhaka city as far as its livability index is concerned. According to the Global Livability Index published Thursday by the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) of Economist, Dhaka remained the 7th least livable city in the world for the second time in a row. There is, however, little improvement in the numerical value. Compared to the last year when it scored 39.2, this year it got 43.8 out of 100, ranking 166 among 172 countries. Harare is its equivalent in terms of livability.
On the stability parameter, this year Dhaka scored 50, on healthcare its score was 41.7, on culture and environment 40.5, education 75.0 and, on infrastructure, its score is only 26.8, the poorest.
Though it is pointed out time and again that decentralisation is key to making Dhaka a livable city, the relevant policymakers have hardly paid attention to it: no visible efforts have been made in that direction. As a result, Dhaka’s population has been rising phenomenally with the concomitant problems like traffic congestion and pollution of all kinds as the most common byproducts of ongoing development activities in Dhaka. The city is ever growing as an unhealthy place.
No system can function effectively if a city like Dhaka contains more than two crore people with its limited resources. People from all parts of Bangladesh come to Dhaka mainly for livelihood purposes, as availability of livelihood means in their localities is absent. Though the lower income group comes here temporarily, their presence always creates a huge pressure on the city.
More importantly, everything such as administration, judiciary, major and specialised hospitals, educational centres, businesses are centralised in Dhaka. The headquarters of three forces are also located in Dhaka.
If there were alternative cities to Dhaka, people would not have to come here. With a lesser population the city would automatically improve in its livability. Businesses cannot speed up here thanks to the capital’s average traffic speed which is close to 6km per hour in the capital.
As far as livability is concerned, in Bangladesh Rajshahi city has made itself an exception. All other cities including the port of Chattogram are better than Dhaka. If authorities do not take steps right now by decentralising Dhaka city aiming to improve its traffic and environment, its condition will further go down and turn into a place of urban chaos. Take the warning: excepting the privileged few, Dhaka has already become an unfit place to live in for most people.
