Urban Governance in Bangladesh: A Study on Inter-Organisational Coordination Problems and Its Impact on Service Delivery

Abstract

In the urban areas of Bangladesh, besides formal urban local governments, special government bodies, some special purpose authorities and special development authorities exist to meet the growing demand for certain urban services and planning. This study aims to provide a better understanding of the inter-organisational coordination problems among these urban bodies and how they impact the service delivery to urban people in Bangladesh. Based on a study performed on the Cumilla City Corporation and Lakshmipur Paurashava area, the available data show that there are huge coordination problems among the urban local government bodies and other governments agencies. This study illustrates that overlapping functions and different accountability patterns of urban bodies, limited autonomy of urban local government, lack of formal framework for coordination, political influences and controlled central–local government relations are affecting inter-organisational coordination. This study is on the basis of embedded case-oriented qualitative research. Both primary and secondary data were considered to carry out this study. The article argues that the lack of coordination among the urban local bodies, government agencies and departments hamper the policy execution, which ultimately affects the service delivery negatively.