Metropolitan Government: An Option for Sustainable Development of Dhaka Megacity

Abstract

Since 1950s the pace of urbanization has produced a significant number of megacities in both developing and developed regions of the world. Developing countries are the chief host of newly formed megacities in the globe. Dhaka, with around 20 million people and a lot of problems regarding sustainability, is one of the fastest growing megacities in the developing part of Asia. The objectives of this article are; (i) to delineate the present loopholes in the governance process of Dhaka megacity and (ii) to propose an option for resolving the governance problems for achieving a sustainable development of the city. Dhaka megacity is being governed by city corporation (recently split into two) vested with a huge range of responsibilities and ultimately the city fails to deliver the services to the citizens according to their expectations. Parallel organizations such as DWASA, CDA, DESCO, DPDC, etc., which provide utilities and infrastructural development to the citizens, have issues while coordinating with Dhaka City Corporations (DCC North and South). This shows the severe differentiation among different agencies responsible for Dhaka city’s management and governance and creates confusion among the institutions and severe governance problem leading to unsustainable development of the megacity. It is necessary for Dhaka to eliminate the current system of governance by inviting well recognized system like metropolitan government in which management is more consolidated, easy, less confusing and targeted towards sustainable development. This article finally identifies that in order to pave the way for sustainable development of the megacity, it is needed to install the system of metropolitan government with no severe delay.