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The affairs of the royal court were underway when an urgent telephone call arrived for the king. After hanging up, the agitated monarch instructed the city minister, “Go and inspect the entire city immediately. See how the people are living and report back by this afternoon.” The same order was given to the chief official responsible for municipal services.
The two men hurried out and entered the residential areas, only to be stunned by what they saw. Houses had been built wall-to-wall with barely any space for light or air. Narrow lanes were crammed with towering buildings and clogged with vehicles. Hospitals and commercial structures lined the main roads. The city was choked with parking congestion and tangled overhead wires. Rubbish and foul-smelling waste littered the streets. Even in this twenty-first-century city, people openly relieved themselves in public. Illegal occupation of pavements and roads was rampant, while theft, mugging, and other crimes seemed endless. Broken roads, waterlogging, dust, a lack of public transport, and relentless mosquito bites during daylight hours left the observers utterly distressed.
Behind the strict security barriers surrounding homes, residents lived in constant fear. Hospitals were overcrowded with thousands of patients, while desperate citizens struggled to receive assistance. Severe shortages of water, electricity, and gas had made life unbearable. After travelling nearly fifty kilometres, they found no trace of greenery or water bodies. The entire city appeared to have transformed into a giant commercial zone. On their return journey by bus, the cramped seating barely allowed them to stretch their legs. A journey that should have taken thirty minutes lasted two and a half hours because of horrific traffic congestion and unbearable noise pollution.
Exhausted after witnessing such suffering and hardship, the two officials returned to the king and declared, “The situation is dreadful. This city is no longer liveable.” The king asked, “Had you never seen these conditions before?” They replied simply, “We were asleep.” They added that urgent action was now needed to ensure citizens’ safety. When asked about their own role, they answered, “Leave us out of it. Our habit of sleeping on the job has made us incapable. A new plan and new leadership are required.”
The present condition of Dhaka, since municipal services began in August 1864, resembles that story of the royal court. Simply put, the people of this city are not well. Even after dividing the City Corporation into North and South, neither the quality nor the delivery of services has improved. As the population has grown, so too have the crises. The City Corporation has 15 core responsibilities, although the law outlines 28 categories of duties. The question is whether it is fulfilling its responsibilities properly. In short, it is not, despite the familiar excuses of various limitations.
The city continues to expand, but services and service quality do not. Instead, civic suffering and inconvenience are increasing alongside it. Drugs, terrorism, extortion, mugging, and other social crimes have made urban life miserable. Social instability is rising, while even controlling mosquitoes has become nearly impossible. Yet rather than improving services, the City Corporation has focused on increasing revenue through holding taxes and other fees. Revenue collection has been successful; service delivery has not. Overall, Dhaka would undoubtedly rank among the worst-managed cities in South Asia.
Policymakers still appear unclear about how an unplanned city should be redesigned, what citizens truly need, what services should be ensured, and what steps are necessary to make urban life bearable. Nor have we been able to follow the examples of developed cities around the world. Since there has been little meaningful change, it seems the authorities are simply “playing the flute while the city burns.”
Has the City Corporation ever seriously considered how many people this city can sustainably accommodate, how many vehicles should operate, or how much road space, greenery, water bodies, hospitals, security personnel, markets, and buildings are actually required? If such planning existed, the BRTA would not issue vehicle licences indiscriminately. In Dhaka today, the speed of pedestrians and vehicles is almost the same. The capital is approaching paralysis under the pressure of traffic. Likewise, the authorities should be frantic over the pollution that repeatedly places Dhaka among the world’s most polluted cities. Yet they remain indifferent.
According to the United Nations’ World Urbanisation Prospects Report at the end of 2025, Dhaka’s population has exceeded 36 million. However, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics estimated the city’s population at around 10.3 million in 2022. Within just a few years, Dhaka has become the world’s second most populous city and one of the most densely populated. By 2050, the UN predicts Dhaka will overtake Jakarta to become the world’s largest city, with a population of 52.1 million.
Has the City Corporation considered how rapidly Dhaka’s population has crossed the 35 million mark? Is there any preparation for the alarming future projected by the United Nations? Will all migration streams in the country continue to flow towards Dhaka? Discussions about halting this migration have been ongoing for two decades, yet meaningful decentralisation has not occurred. Had it happened, the flow of people to Dhaka would not continue unchecked. The growing population is intensifying every civic crisis and repeatedly exposing the shortcomings of municipal services.
Dhaka North City Corporation now covers 196 square kilometres and consists of 54 wards. Dhaka South City Corporation spans 109 square kilometres with 75 wards and employs 8,407 staff members. In 2016, both corporations incorporated eight new unions each, yet services did not improve. Residents of these newly added areas continue to suffer greatly. In many places, even half of the promised civic services have failed to reach them. Dark roads remain unlit and broken roads unrepaired.
