Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) recently published a ranking of world’s livable cities and ranked the city of Dhaka as the worst livable among world’s 140 cities. Last year Dhaka was ranked one step above followed by Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is an independent company within The Economist Group of UK.

Through research and analysis, EIU offers forecasting and advisory services to its clients. It provides country, industry and management analysis worldwide. It is particularly well known for its monthly country reports, five-year country economic forecasts, country risk service reports, and industry reports. The company is also specialised in tailored research for companies that require analysis for particular markets or business sectors. The Unit currently is 66 years old. The Economist Intelligence Unit also produces regular reports on the ‘livability’ and cost of living of the world’s major cities, which receive wide coverage in international news sources. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Quality-of-Life Index is another noted report. Thought EIU claims it takes all necessary care to prepare objective reports often it draws flak from critiques for its biased or reports based on half truth and flawed information. But this year’s livability index perhaps suffers from no such criticism as those of us who lives in Dhaka do not have to look towards EIU for the ranking. Yes, the condition of Dhaka as a livable city is getting from bad to worse and perhaps someday in near future the policy makers in the government will have to think to abandon Dhaka as the capital of Bangladesh and build a new capital for them. This has been done in Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Brazil, Tanzania, Belize, Kazakhstan, Australia, India (from Calcutta). Iran is considering relocating its capital from Tehran either to Qom or Isfahan. Different countries had different reason for shifting its capital. But unlivability in most cases was not one of the conditions. Muhammad Bin Tughlak, the Sultan of Delhi (1325-51) moved his capital from Delhi with its population to Deogiri (Daulatabad, Maharashtra), presumably for protecting the capital from the possible invasion of Delhi by the Mongolians from the North. Tughlak had to return back to Delhi after two years as Deogiri did not have enough water for use for the new inhabitants.

EIU while doing the livable ranking of cities considers 30 factors, across five categories such as stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, personal safety and infrastructure. Fifty years back Dhaka was one of the most livable cities in this part of the world. Even till 80s its living conditions were even better than our neighbouring city Kolkata. People visiting Dhaka in the sixties and early seventies found it more pleasant than Singapore and Bangkok. Kualalampur never came close to Dhaka when it came to providing civic amenities to its citizens. The only comparable city perhaps was Rangoon (Yangon). The British seized Rangoon and all of Lower Burma in the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, and subsequently transformed the city into the commercial and political hub of British Burma. Based on the design by army engineer Lt. Alexander Fraser, the British constructed a new city on a grid plan on delta land, bounded to the east by the Pazundaung Creek and to the south and west by the Yangon River. Colonial Rangoon, with its spacious parks and lakes and mix of modern buildings and traditional wooden architecture, was known as ‘the garden city of the East’. By the early 20th century, Rangoon had public services and infrastructure on par with London. The four decades of military rule in Myanmar left Rangoon to practical ruins. The military junta relocated the capital to Naypyidaw in 2006.

Conditions of all the cities or the capitals in this region have improved in last two decades, except that of Dhaka and this did not happen overnight. The decay of Dhaka evolved over this period and it was allowed to happen by the sheer neglect of the policy makers in the government and on top of everything the city dwellers contributed grossly into the process. My first visit to Dhaka, in 1956, left an everlasting impression in me. Dhaka then a provincial capital was known as a mosquito free city (town). Everyone knew the name of the Provincial Health Minister, Habibullah Bahar whose immaculate planning and execution made this possible. Dhaka (then known as Dacca) ended with the Nawabpur Rail Crossing (it does not exist now). Beyond that there was only Gulistan Cinema, Eden Buildings (the Secretariat), Dhaka University, Ramna Race Course and the Tejgaon Airport. Dhaka Cantonment was a suburb. People would go to Dhaka from Isapur (now Gulshan). In half a century, Dhaka is kept alive with life support. This is a collective failure. When Dhaka became the capital of an independent nation in 1971 it had every potential to reclaim its past glory and become an ideal city. But unfortunately this did not happen. The new government performed many wonders (like framing a Constitution and rebuilding its war battered infrastructure) but when it came to planning its own capital, the country’s subsequent showcase to the world, it miserably failed. Perhaps the government never felt it necessary that it needed to redesign its own capital and no responsibility was assigned to competent city planners. Though some plans were made on ad-hoc basis, proper monitoring was absent and incidents like land grabbing was a free for all everywhere.

One single factor that made Dhaka an unlivable city is the centralisation of all government activities and decision making. Till 1971 most of the multinational corporation offices and factories were located in Chittagong. Beginning in the mid-seventies they all began to migrate to Dhaka. Along with came its employees and people looking for employment or business. Today approximately two thousand people from other parts of the country enter and settle in Dhaka daily. People flock to Dhaka not only for job or business but also for health care, education, file cases in the apex court of the country, for some routine decisions being made at the secretariat or simply taking a flight out of the country as Dhaka has the only fully functional international airport. All these virtually made Bangladesh a one-city country whereas with proper foresight and planning Chittagong, Khulna, Sylhet, Rangpur or Comilla with good civic amenities could have been developed into alternative cities. But unfortunately that did not happen. Rajuk (originally Dhaka Improvement Trust) has the responsibility of developing the capital city. Over the years it has done everything but develop the capital. It has virtually turned into a den of corruption, and those entrusted with Capital’s development did everything for personal gain (there are a few exceptions). Rajuk also miserably failed to coordinate its activities with the Dhaka City Corporation.

Dhaka had a city corporation, until recently. Now it has two. When it had one City Corporation it had an elected Mayor, but the way it was administered could never meet the acceptable international or even regional standards. Now one city corporation has been divided into two and the reasons cited for such a utopian act were never convincing. The bifurcated Dhaka City Corporation now has two bureaucrat administrators, who are answerable only to the government for their actions or inactions and not to the citizens. No one knows when the responsibility of administering this mega city will be returned to the elected representatives of the people.

The inhabitants of Dhaka are in no way less responsible for the decay of this once great city. The city has faced merciless aggression from land grabbers, whose prime task seems to be filling in the rivers, canals and wetlands for unplanned housing. They do this in connivance with Rajuk and the concerned law enforcing agencies.

Most of the people live in Dhaka are devoid of minimum civic sense and often cannot distinguish between a dustbin and a public drain. The drivers, both public and private have an insatiable liking for breaking the traffic rules. The pedestrian walkways disappeared long time back; thanks to the joint effort by the hawkers and the police.

Can Dhaka be made livable again? This is a million dollar question but the answer from those living in Dhaka is simple, and it is no. They have learnt to thrive in chaos and will continue to do so. The other viable option is to make a long term plan to build a new capital, moving the seats of administration from the city centre. The Peelkhana BDR Headquarters and the Dhaka Cantonment will perhaps need to be relocated in near future. Dhaka needs to reclaim its lost glory.

The writer is a former Vice-chancellor, Chittagong University. Currently he teaches at ULAB, Dhaka