Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Civil Engineering for Sustainable Development

(ICCESD-2014), 14~16 February 2014, KUET, Khulna, Bangladesh, ISBN: 978-984-33-6373-2 (CD-Rom)

URBANIZATION AND SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES IN DHAKA CITY,

BANGLADESH

Muhammad Abdullah*1,3, Sushil Kumar Das2 and Oyama Tatsuo3

1
Assistant Postmaster General, Head Post Office,Sylhet, Bangladesh,
e-mail: mabdullahapmg@yahoo.com
2
College of Engineering and Science, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia,
e-mail: sushildaso6@yahoo.com
3
National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Tokyo, Japan,
e-mail: oyamat@grips.ac.jp

ABSTRACT
Like other developing countries, urbanization in Bangladesh is a growing phenomenon, which is steady in
nature but fretfully affects urban sustainability. Despite urban authorities are concerned about this issue, they
often fail to assess the problems due to the fact of uncontrollable and unpredictable rural to urban migration,
and negligence of urban poor’s sustainable living and access to basic services. This paper tries to embrace the
issues of urban population growth and consequential challenges of urban sustainability focusing on solid waste
managemetn in Dhaka city. This paper is prepared by a qualitative methodology based on secondary data which
were collected from different published and unpublished documents, relevant research articles and books. This
study indicates the inadequacy of infrastructural services and basic amenities; environmental degradation;
traffic jam and accidents; violence and socio-economic insecurity are the major challenges for Dhaka city
which are created through rapid urbanization. One of the direct consequences of urbanization of Dhaka city is
the increase in solid waste generation, placing a serious threat to the natural resources, and consequently
holding back sustainable development. The paper finally concludes providing some strategies that might be
helpful to the policy makers in formulating development policies for sustainable urban services.

Keywords: Urbanization, sustainability, good governance, solid waste, Dhaka city

1. INTRODUCTION
Urbanization is now a global phenomenon. The world’s urban population reached 2.9 billion in 2000 and is
expected to rise to 5 billion by 2030. A great rural-to-urban demographic shift taking place throughout the world
is fuelling this urban growth. As a result, the proportion between urban and rural population is steadily tilting
towards urban. Only 29% of the world’s population lived in urban areas in 1950; this proportion is increased to
47% by 2000, and projected to account for 61% by 2030 (UN, 2004). The overwhelming population growth in
urban areas is a complex product of ‘pull’ and ‘push’ factors (Savage, 2006). Urbanization, generally, refers to
an increasing shift from agrarian to industrial services and distributive occupations (Mandal, 2000). These
services and occupational opportunities as a full factor offer many people to migrate to urban areas from rural
areas being stimulated by push factors like natural disasters, economic stagnant, and poverty. Dhaliwal (2000)
notes these trends in developing countries as a substantial difference from euro-American industrial
urbanization. In the context of developing countries, this kind of urbanization processes a dualistic nature of
opportunities as well as challenges. Therefore, cities have both positive and negative dimensions. Positively, it is
center place of modernization and communication, and engine of a country’s economic development. Moreover,
cities are the agglomeration of the riches, economic activities, and modern technological advancement and
opportunities (Kleniewski, 2006). On the contrary, cities, particularly in developing countries, are now very
vulnerable places to live and enjoy quality of life because of environmental problems, rapid growth of urban
poor, and terrorism. Many argue that urbanization does not reduce poverty, rather it gives to rise to enormous
problems and challenges (Nazem, 2001). However, the world is gradually going to be completely urbanized.
Already, more than half of the people live in urban areas. Various reports suggest that the cities of developing
countries, particularly, will be facing tremendous challenges of the unpredictable and uncontrollable
urbanization which may generate a huge suffering to the people. In Bangladesh, this situation might be more
dangerous while overwhelming rural-urban migration is uncontrollable, good governance is rare, and unequal
resources distribution is explicitly visible. For example, the urban poor in the city and their informal living in
precarious settlements is a big issue of sustainable urban development. Despite the authorities are concerned
about this issue, they neglect it in the name of limitation of resources, urban poor’s entitlement in the city, and
administrative and political difficulties. Therefore, the trend of present urbanization and lacking in good
governance pose huge challenges to the future of sustainable city.
 2nd International Conference on Civil Engineering for Sustainable Development (ICCESD-2014)

One of the consequences of the global urbanization is increasing volume of solid waste. The rising urban
population is generating solid waste at an ever-faster rate. It was estimated that about 1.3 billion metric tons of
municipal solid waste was generated globally in 1990 (Beede and Bloom, 1995). At present the yearly
production of solid waste in the world may be about 1.6 billion metric tons. A considerable amount of money
goes into managing such huge volume of solid waste. Industrially developed countries produce large quantities
of wastes. On the other hand , developing country generate relatively less solid waste per capita because of their
lower purchasing power and consequent lesser consumption (Caricross and Feachem, 1993). This paper
attempts to examine this situation drawing upon examples of developing cities in general and Dhaka city of
Bangladesh in particular. This paper indicates that inadequacy of infrastructural services, basic amenities and
environmental goods, environmental degradation, traffic jam and accidents, violence and socio-economic
insecurity are the major challenges for the cities. To analyze these challenges, the paper provides an overview of
urbanization of the world and tries to introduce Dhaka city as one of the fastest growing megacities in
developing countries and suffering from environmental hazard like managing of solid waste. The paper is based
on secondary data which are collected from different published and unpublished documents, relevant research
articles and books. With a simple descriptive analytical approach, the paper is organized as following. Section 2
discusses salient features of world urbanization and focused on Dhaka to indicate its position in the list of
megacities as well as in Bangladesh. Section 3 indicates major challenges of rapid urbanization and focused on
who are the vulnerable in the cities and in which way. In Section 4, focusing on solid waste management of
Dhaka city is given. Finally, Section 5 provides the conclusion followed by some brief recommendations of
sustainable urban development focusing on solid waste management.

2. HISTORICAL TREND OF URBANIZATION

Dhaliwal (2000) notes that the populations are particularly concentrated in and around major cities of the world.
Moreover, according to UN (2000) report, 90% of urban population growth will be in developing countries of
Asia, Africa and Latin America. It is also projected that 80% world’s cities will be in developing countries
(Dhaliwal, 2000). Thus, it obviously shows that the cities of the developing countries will create much more
challenges in the days to come.

2.1 World’s Urban Population

Cities are currently home to more than half of the world’s population. The UN (United Nations) forecasts that
today’s urban population of 3.2 billion will rise to nearly 5 billion by 2030, when three out of five people will be
living in cities (Lewis, 2007). Brockerhoff (2000) notes that a majority of the population of less developed
countries will be living in urban areas by 2020, and dramatically in Asia and Africa (IRIN, 2006).
Table 1 shows an increase in urban population in the world from 1950 to 2030. As can be seen in the table, by
2030, 60.3% of the population will be living in urban areas of the world, whereas it was only 29.7% in 1950.
Notable, more developed countries show a saturated kind of urbanization, while less developed countries’ urban
population increases from 17.8 to 39.9% between 1950 and 2000, and will be more than tripled between 1950
and 2030 increasing from 17.8 to 56.2%. The table also depicts that Asia and Africa, particularly, may face
tremendous urban pressure in the next several decades. More importantly, many cities of this region will get
huge urban population, which are already known as megacities.

Table 1: Urban Population in the World, 1950-2030 (World Urbanization Prospects, 1999)

Percentage of urban population

Region
1950 1975 2000 2030
World 29.7 37.9 47.0 60.3
More developed regions 54.9 70.0 76.0 83.5
Less developing regions 17.8 26.8 39.9 56.2
North America 64 74 77 84
Latin America and the Caribbean 41 61 75 83
Europe 52 67 75 83
Oceania 62 72 70 74
Africa 15 25 38 55
Asia 25 37 37 53

2.2 Urban Population Trends in Megacities

A megacity is usually defined as a recognized metropolitan area with a total population in excess of 10 million
people. The UN estimates that there were 19 megacities in the world at the beginning of the 21st century

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(Brockerhoff, 2000).The City Population (2008) reports that it has already been 26 in number and mostly
located in developing countries. Previous reports suggest that there were 83 cities or city systems with
populations of more than 1 million in 1950, in which 34 of them were in developing countries. In 2000, this
figure rose to 280 with same populations and expected to be double by 2015 (Rodrigue et al., 2006) and just
under 500 in 2025 (Dogan and Kasarda 1988; Kasarda and Rondinelli, 1990). All the new millionaire cities are
located in the developing countries. Moreover, if cities of 8 million are considered, 28 cities were existed in
2000, in which 22 cities were in developing countries. Despite, in 1950, New York city had only more than 10
million people, it is estimated that by 2015, 12 cities will have a population of more than 15 million (Rodrigue
et al., 2006). Table 2 shows 10 largest cities of the world in different times.

Table 2: World’s Largest Cities (megacities), 1900-2015 (Brockerhoff, 2000)

Population (P) in millions

Rank 1900 1970 2005 2015
City P City P City P City P
1 London 6.5 Tokyo 16.5 Tokyo 35.2 Tokyo 35.5
2 New York 4.2 New York 16.2 Mexico City 19.4 Mumbai 21.9
3 Paris 3.3 Shanghai 11.2 New York 18.7 Mexico City 21.6
4 Berlin 2.7 Osaka 9.4 Sao Pauol 18.3 Sao Paulo 20.5
5 Chicago 1.7 Mexico 9.1 Mumbai 18.2 New York 19.9
6 Vienna 1.7 London 8.6 Delhi 15.0 Delhi 18.6
7 Tokyo 1.5 Paris 8.5 Shanghai 14.5 Shanhai 17.2
8 St. Petersburg 1.4 Buenos Aires 8.4 Kolkata 14.3 Kolkata 17.0
9 Manchester 1.4 Los Angeles 8.4 Jakarta 13.2 Dhaka 16.8
10 Philadelphia 1.4 Beijing 8.1 Buenos Aires 12.6 Jakarta 16.8

As can be seen in the Table 2, the contribution of Asian cities in world’s urban population is tremendously
increasing. By 2015, 7 Asian cities of 10 will be included in the list of largest cities, while the corresponding
figure was 6 in 2005, 4 in 1970, and only 1 in 1900. Moreover, the cities of the developed countries are
gradually going off from the list. In 1970, their number was 6, while in 2015, it will be only 2 (Tokyo and New
York). Thus, obviously, the major contribution will come from the cities of developing countries. Notably,
Dhaka will be included in the list for the first time.

2.3 Urban Population in Bangladesh and Dhaka

Bangladesh is one of the most heavily populated countries in the world. The country is experiencing a rapid
urban population growth (13.5 million in 1981, 22.9 million 1990, 37.3 in 2000, and 46.4 in 2005) in recent
decades (Chowdhury and Amin, 2006). Uneven development and regional policies, natural hazards, and the lack
of employment opportunities in the rural areas are the key factors of urban population growth. Islam (2001a)
indicates three factors of rapid urban population growth; (1) a high natural increase in native urban population,
(2) the territorial extension of existing urban areas and a change in definition of urban areas, and (3) rural to
urban migration. During 1974-1981, Bangladesh experienced higher urban population growth rate at 10.03%
due to the facts of both pull factors and push factors (BBS, 2001). The pull factors are employment
opportunities, higher wage and income, better life status, educational opportunities, transportation facilities,
comparatively better social security etc. On the other contrary, push factors are poverty and lack of employment
in rural area; no higher educational institutes; natural calamity like river erosion, cyclones, floods etc. Therefore,
migration is the most dominant factor of dramatic urban population growth, and for the large city like Dhaka it
is up to 70% (Islam, 2001a). World Bank (2007) notes that 300,000-4000, 000 new poor migrants arrive in
Dhaka in a year. The overall population growth in Bangladesh is higher than many other developing countries in
the world. In 2005, the estimated population was 152 million in Bangladesh with growth rate of 1.2%, which
was 2.6% in 1990. Despite the overall growth rate is decreasing, the urban population growth rate is remarkably
high, particularly in the big cities such as Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, and Rajshahi. In 1974, only 8.8% of 76
million people lived in urban areas. In 2004, the level of urbanization reached nearly to 25% (BBS, 2005). At
present, the overall urban growth rate is steady, but it is huge in few big cities, like in the capital city Dhaka
(Islam, 1999). This rapid urban growth plays a pivotal role in the quest for sustainable city, which is very
challenging to the government in formulating strategies of urban sustainability (Rana, 2009). The nature of
urbanization can be measured considering two components i.e., the level of urbanization and growth rate of
urban population. In Bangladesh, the level of urbanization is still low, but its total urban population is very
large, 28.60 million in 2001. Table 3 shows that the proportion of population has increased tremendously from

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only 2.54% (1911) to nearly 23% in 2001. Before Pakistan period, the urban population growth was steady
(about 3%). But, it experienced a tremendous growth (4.34% in 1951-8.89% in 1974) in Pakistan period, which
continued up to first two decade of Bangladesh period (20.15% in 1991). The annual growth rate was abruptly
high (10.03%) during 1974-1981 because of rural-urban migration as the result of huge famine in many remote
village areas of the country. During 1981-1991 periods, a slower growth of urban population (5.43%) was
observed in comparison with the previous decade. During 1991-2001, the growth further declined to 3.15%, but
still remained much higher than the national population growth rate. The overall growth indicates that the urban
population in the country has been doubled every 12 years (CUS, 2001).

Table 3: Growth of Urban Population in Bangladesh, 1991-2001 (BBS, 2001)

Census Total Annual Total Percent of Decadal increase of Annual exceptional

Year national growth rate urban urban urban population growth rate of urban
population (percent) population population (percent) population (percent)
(million) (million)
1901 28.2 0.70 2.43 - - -
1911 31.65 0.94 0.80 2.54 14.96 1.39
1922 33.25 0.60 0.87 2.61 8.85 0.84
1931 35.60 0.74 1.07 3.01 22.20 2.00
1941 41.99 1.70 1.54 3.66 43.20 3.59
1951 44.17 0.50 1.83 4.34 18.38 1.58
1961 55.22 2.26 2.64 5.14 45.11 3.72
1974 76.37 2.48 6.00 8.89 137.57 6.62
1981 89.91 2.32 13.56 15.54 110.68 10.03
1991 111.45 2.17 22.45 20.15 69.75 5.43
2001 123.85 1.54 28.60 23.01 37.04 3.15

3. SUSTAINABILITY RELATED PROBLEM IN BANGLADESH: MAJOR CHALLENGES

Urbanization has brought remarkable development in Bangladesh, even though it has been a great challenge
environmentally, socially, and economically. To build a sustainable city, these challenges need to be faced
efficiently and successfully. In general, a sustainable city must be economically viable, socially peaceful, and
environmentally friendly. More specially, a sustainable city is where people live in peace with sufficient income
earning and quality of life, and without social and mental anxiety.
Hardoy et al. (1992) note that a sustainable city provides healthy environment and meets multiple goals i.e.,
healthy living and working environments: access to water and sanitation, waste disposal, drains, paved roads,
and other forms of infrastructure and services essential for health and for a prosperous socioeconomic base.
These definitions indicate major challenges of urbanizations as well as characteristics of a sustainable city.
Drawing upon these definitions, the following sections try to describe major challenges, particularly in Dhaka
city, which are very important for sustainable urban development.

3.1 Environmental Problems

Environmental problems in the cities constitute air, water, and noise pollution, and also problem related with
solid wastes (toxic or hazardous wastes). The process of industrialization and urbanization leads to deterioration
of healthy environmental conditions. Uses of fossil fuels in industry, transportation, and household cause huge
contamination of air, water, and soil. For example, 12.60% of the death in Jakarta is related to air pollution
causes (World Resources Institute, 1996). Notable, traffic-generated pollutants such as particulates, nitrogen
oxide, and carbon dioxide have been increasing in the air of the cities. Moreover, the environmental problems
are particularly serious in Third World Cities because of industrialization and urbanization in one or two cities
of the country. For instance, Bangkok, Dhaka, Mexico City, and Sao Paulo include a high proportion of
industrial output. These cities are particularly affected by these environmental problems and suffer comparable
industrial problems to those in Europe, Japan, and North America. In many cities, environmental problems are
far serious (Hardoy et al., 1992). Rapid urbanization is always characterized by spatial extension in the fringe
area, which converts agricultural land into urban area. Large areas around cities are dug up for making bricks,
and forests are destroyed to meet the firewood needs (Dhaiwal, 2000). The situation has been particularly
dangerous in Dhaka city. Some unscrupulous developers (both corporate and individual) have been involved in
grabbing of common pool resources such as water bodies, forests, lakes, and rivers. River Buriganga, the lifeline
of Dhaka, has been encroached at almost all areas, thus shrinking its width and navigability (Islam, 2000).

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The air quality of Dhaka has been one of the worst among many developing cities in the world. There are two
major sources of air pollution which include industrial emissions and vehicular emissions. The industrial sources
include brick kilns, fertilizers factories, spinning mills, tanneries, garments, bread and biscuit factories, chemical
and pharmaceutical industries, metal workshops etc. The vehicular emissions are caused by two-stroke three
wheelers (scooter), poorly maintained old trucks, buses, and other motor vehicles. Bricks kilns around the city
also constitute to the worsening of air quality. Recent ban on the use of two-stroke vehicles in Dhaka
remarkably contributed to improvement of environmental quality. A recent survey by the department of
environment shows that particle matter in the air of Dhaka city was 30% lower in January, 2003 compared with
December, 2002 (CPD, 2003). Nonetheless, a study conducted by Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission
reports that about 50 tons of lead is emitted into Dhaka’s air annually, and the emission reaches its highest level
in dry season (November-January). The density of lead in the air of Dhaka city in dry season reaches 463
monograms per cubic meter, the highest in the world, while it is 383 monograms per cubic meter in Maxico
City, and 360 monograms per cubic meter in Mumbai, India (Mahadi, 2010). Water logging is a common
feature in Dhaka city. City life becomes hostage to water logging due to lack of proper sewerage management,
particularly during rainy season. Rainfall of above 10 mm in 24 h creates water logging in various parts of the
city. It is suggested that at least 15% of the total land of the city should be water body in order to maintain a
healthy environment. Nevertheless, most of the water body in and around the city has been filled up by illegal
construction such as industries, housing, and commercial infrastructure. Earlier, these water bodies were the
sources of water supply, rainwater catchment, fish cultivation, open spaces etc. Murtaza (2004) notes that many
water bodies in the city have been polluted by a large number of industries, mills, and factories established in an
unplanned manner. He further argues that the issues of the water disposal are not considered during setting up
these industries. The standard of solid waste management in Dhaka city is also very poor. Islam (1993) argues
that municipalities and pourashavas which have responsibilities for collection and disposal of urban wastes do
not have the resources to deal with the situation. Daily household wastes are normally thrown out to the roads or
open places, which causes water and soil pollution. Industries like tanneries discharges huge waste into the river
without any recycling treatment. So, the environmental degradation of the urban areas today is a result of the
lack of policy support for adequate investment in urban development and improve urban management (Shafi,
2003), and also for lack of environmental awareness of the people.

3.2 Infrastructure and Services

Rehabilitation of the urban poor and housing are the major challenges in cities of developing country. In some
cities (e.g., Mumbai), informal settlements and slumps, and squatters may form more than 50% of cities’
population (Islam, 2001b). Already over 90% of the urban population of Ethiopia, Malawi, and Uganda, three of
the world’s most urban population, were living in informal settlements or slums. Notably, by 2030, the number
of the world wide slum dwellers is projected to reach two billion (State of World Population, 2007). Similarly,
in Dhaka city of Bangladesh, almost 34% of the city’s 13 million residents live in 5,000 slum and squatter
settlements (CUS, 2006). The growth of the cities both in terms of areas and population has consistently been
faster than the growth of infrastructural provisions and services in Dhaka. As a result, a large section of the
urban population does not have access to basic infrastructure services. The services include housing, water and
sanitation, drainage, roads, gas, and electricity supply. Insufficient and unhealthy housing in the cities,
particularly in Dhaka, is the major infrastructural problem in Bangladesh (Uddin and Jones, 2000). The rapid
growth of population and low affordability of the people have resulted in poor housing situations, such as slums
and squatters (Islam, 2000). Nearly half of the populations in major cities live in slum and squatter settlements
with extremely poor physical conditions (Islam and Hasan, 2004). These inadequacies cause a higher mortality
rate in the informal community. For example, infant mortality (80 per 1000 live births) and age under-5
mortality rates (140 per 1,000 live births) in urban slums are among the highest in the world (EPHD, 2010). The
availability of land for housing is limited, and hence the costs are gradually soaring. Moreover, nearly, two-third
of the urban population is unable to acquire and within reasonable distance from their work place (Islam, 1993).
Besides housing, the basic utility services like water, electricity, and gas are very essential in everyday life. But,
the urban authorities are unable to provide these services to all urban people, particularly to the urban poor.
Only 40% of urban populations have access to hygienic sanitation (Islam, 1993). Water supply system is also
insufficient for which the quality and quantity of water are always unsatisfactory to the dwellers. The garbage
disposal system in the city is yet to be completely satisfactory too. Few areas of the city are going to be
managed by sustainable garbage disposal system after government and non-government organizations and
community development. Nonetheless, 35.1% of them do not have any garbage collection system. In addition, a
study by Enayetullah (1995) reports that the Dhaka city corporation area generates 3,000-3,500 metric tons of
municipal solid waste daily, of which 42% is collected by the management authorities, but rest of them remains
on roads, open drains , and low-lying areas.

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3.3 Poverty and Social Insecurity

The poverty incidence in third world cities suggests that urban is a habitat of extreme opportunities for the
riches, but has been worse reality to the poor. It is generally assumed that urban poverty levels are lower than
rural poverty levels, but the absolute number of poor and undernourished is rapidly increasing in the cities.
Poverty has been considered as a key driver of violent crime too. One billion people, about one-sixth of the
world population, now live in shanty towns (Whitehouse, 2005) which are seen as “breeding grounds” for social
problems such as crime, drug addiction, alcoholism, poverty, and unemployment. A World Bank study on
violence in Latin American Urban areas showed that homicide rates ranged from 6.4 per year per 100,000 in
Buenos Aires to 248 in Medellin, Colommbia. Rio de Janerio, Sao Paulo, Maxico City, Lima and Caracas
account for more than half of their countries’ nation homicides (IRIN, 2006). In Bangladesh, similarly, slumps
and squatter are always considered as the breeding grounds of anti-social elements. It is true that most of the
miscreants, hijackers, murderers, and drug suppliers live in this area. That is why, the ever-increasing number of
slumps people and their activities has become a non-stop social problem for the cities. Although because of
government and non-government interventions, the incidences of poverty has been reduced significantly in the
urban areas since after liberation, it is still remains pretty high at nearly 37.9% of total urban population in 2004.
This may offset the Milleneium Development Goals of reducing the level of poverty in the country by 50% by
the year 2015 (CPD, 2003).

3.4 Natural Man-Induced Hazards

Flood is also a common hazard in the cities of Bangladesh. Besides natural causes, unplanned infrastructure
development, and inadequate and inefficient drainage are the main causes of floods. Diminishing water bodies
and interrupting river flows are also conducive factors of worsening the situations. As for example, once there
were number of canals in Dhaka city, which are now filled up for settlements and business purposes. The Dhaka
city protection embankment that was built spending huge resources is not properly maintained by the authority.
A lot of urban poor have built houses and shops on the embankment, which gradually damaging its strengths
and capacity (Islam, 1998). In 2004, almost 2.5 million people were affected by flood, and 20 people had died
(Islam and Hasan, 2004). CUS (2006) reports that more than 60% slums in the city were affected by floods, in
which 38.5% were fully affected. Alam and Rabbani (2007) also state sufferings and extent of 1998 flood in
Dhaka city which caused extensive water logging. Bangladesh is also susceptible to damaging earthquakes. The
city of Chittagong, Mymensing, Rangpur, sylhet, and Dhaka are very prone to earthquake hazards (Ansary,
2004). According to report published by United Nations IDNDR-RADIUS Initiative, Dhaka and Tehran are the
cities with the highest relative earthquake disaster risk (Ansary, 2004; Cardona et al., 1999). Depending on the
time of the day, between 45,000 and 86,000 people may perish due to collapse and damage of structure. The
number of serious injuries may range between 110,000 and 210,000, with severe damage on the emergency
relief and healthcare infrastructure (Ansary, 2004).

4. SOLID WASTE AND SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

Solid waste is usually categorised into municipal solid waste and industrial waste according to its sources. Solid
waste is useless, unwanted, and discarded non-liquid waste materials arising from domestic, trade, commercial,
industrial, agriculture as well as public services (Wadood, 1994). Nunan (2000) refers to solid waste
management as the collection, treatment, and disposal of municipal solid waste.

4.1 Solid Waste Generation, Population and GDP

The production of urban solid waste is generally increasing in Bangladesh. In 1995, urban Bangladesh generated
0.49 kg/person/day waste which is estimated to increase to 0.6 kg by 2025 due to rapid and high growth of
urban population (Ray, 2008). For example, in 1999, 30 million people, around 20% of the total population of
Bangladesh, lived in urban areas; by 2015 it is estimated that 68 million, more than one third of total population,
will be living in urban areas (Pryer, 2003). Table 4 shows a relation between per capita GDP, population and
waste generation in urban areas of Bangladesh. The table demonstrates that increase in per capita income
improves the purchasing capacity of citizens, which accelerates the growth of solid waste production.

Table 4: Relationship Between GDP, Population and Waste Generation (Enayetullah and Hashimi, 2006)
Urban Total urban waste Per capita waste generation rate in
Year Per capita GDP
population generation (ton/day) urban areas (kg/cap/day)
1991 20.8 million 6493 0.31 US$ 220
2005 32.76 million 13,330 0.41 US$ 482
2025 78.44 million 47,000 0.60 ---

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4.2 Solid Waste Management

The trend of urban population growth has outstripped the
capacity of city governments to provide effective and
efficient delivery of conservancy services. As a result,
nearly 50% of the daily generated garbage remains
uncollected in the cities of Bangladesh (Bhuiyan, 2005).
A ‘gap’ exists between the daily generation and the
collection of solid waste, which leaves urban
administration vulnerable to citizens’ complaints. Weak
institutional incentives and capacity have been at the base
of the dysfunctional in urban service deliver. The
challenge will be even greater by 2020 when the demand
for removal of solids waste may raise to 50,000 tons/day
from the present 10,000 tons/day (World Bank, 2003). Figure 9: Projected demand for solid waste
The projected demand for solid waste management management in Bangladesh (World Bank, 2003)
(SWM) is indicated in Figure 1.

4.3 Solid Waste Disposal Problem in Dhaka

Dhaka has already reached the rank of a mega-city with over 10 million populations. The city covers an area of
460 km2. Cities like Dhaka are confronting a twin dilemma. The urban population is growing rapidly causing a
huge increase in demand for waste management services. On the other hand, the traditional public sector is
responding poorly to the growing demand for such services (Ahmed and Ali, 2006). Thus, solid waste
management has become a major concern for Dhaka where Dhaka City Corporation can pick up and dispose
only 42% of the solid waste generated (Salequzzaman et al., 1998). Practically, the city corporation has failed to
manage the solid waste of the increasing population, mainly because of lack of financial support and willingness
to pay for overall sustainable solid waste management policies. The Dhaka city government was revamped,
under a Municipal Ordinance, as Dhaka Municipal Corporation in 1978. In 1990, it was renamed Dhaka City
Corporation (DCC) through a Local Government Act. The responsibility of solid waste management is placed
on the Conservancy Department of DCC. A Chief ConserYDQF\2I¿FHUKHDGVWKLVGHSDUWPHQW7KLVSRVLWLRQZDV
traditionally neglected although solid waste disposal is one of the most important functions of DCC.

4.4 Work process of the Conservancy Department of Dhaka

Dhaka has been divided into 10 administrative zones where a conservancy officer runs the conservancy service
of a zone. All wards receive regualar conservancy services. So Dhaka does not have any non-conservacy ward
like other municipalties. All service users pay 2% conservancy tax with their annual household taxes.The
corporation employs around 7500 sweepers to sweep roads/lanes and clean drains (Bhuiyan, 2001; Paul, 1991).
Formally, the cleaners (mainly the female sweepers) of Dhaka are supposed to sweep the roads and lanes daily
in three shifts: morning, day, and night within the officially assigned duty hours between 6 am to 2 pm, and 7
pm to 3 am (Asaduzzaman and Hye, 1998). Usualy garbage removal to the final dumping grounds is done at
night. One probable reason for night trafficking of garbage is that there is a ban on running any truck (except the
trucks used for emergency service duty) in the city during daytime to avoid traffic jams and accidents caused by
reckless driving of traffic drivers. There are four dumping grounds in Dhaka: (a) Matuali, (b) Gabtoli, (c) Amin
Bazar, and (d) Badda (Bhuiyan, 2010). According to Asaduzzaman and Hye (1998), the system of solid waste
collection in Dhaka may be described as a ‘dustbin-based’ (including demountable containers) collection
system. Dustbins together with demountable containers account for about 66% of solid waste, followed by
encloses (15%), dust-shoot on street collection (10%), and block collection (9%). Door to door collection
system covers only a negligible volume of the waste (0.1%).

4.5 Operational Challenges of Conservancy Department

The conservancy department of Dhaka faces operational challenges such as the lack/misuse of resources,
corruption, political interference, central-local government relationships, lack of interdepartmental coordination,
and lack of people awareness. Some of these issues are in some detail discussed here. Kandakar (1995) observes
that for satisfactory cleaning of a city area at least two sweepers are required per thousand populations.
According to this calculation, Dhaka delivers services to their clients with inadequate workforce. But it is
argued that if the sweepers perform their task appropriately the magnitude of the problem could be largely
reduced. The tendency of a large number of sweepers is to draw their salary without doing any meaningful
work. The conservancy staff of Dhaka, particularly those employed on contract basis receives their emoluments
without work (Bhuiyan, 2005). This case also reveals the lack of functional accountability in the corporations’

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work. In order to run an organization effectively, material resources are as important as human resources. The
insufficiency of the quantity of material resources is also a barrier for Dhaka city to provide services to a huge
population living in the city.
Despite the presence of human and material
resources, organizational objectives cannot be Table 5: Budgetary Allocations for the Conservancy
achieved without adequate financial guarantees. Department, 1996-2001(Bhuiyan, 2005)
The budgetary allocation for the financial years
1996-2001 is presented in Table 5 to highlight Financial Dhaka city (Taka in million)
the position of conservancy budget in the context Year Conservancy Total budget % of total budget
of total (revenue) budgets of Dhaka. An analysis
2000-2001 140 1129 8.1
of the financial statements reveals that about 70-
80% of the budget allocated for the Conservancy 1999-2000 135 997 7.4
Department was spent for the payment of salary 1998-1999 100 991 9.9
and other fringe benefits to its employees, 1997-1998 90 996 11.1
leaving an insignificant amount of money for the institutional development of the department. This contributes
to a better understanding how the city government leaders perceive solid waste as a potential urban problem
associated with urban governance. Solid waste has become a matter of global concern as is evident from the
conclusion drawn in the colloquium of mayors held at the United Nations in New York in August 1994, where
they identified twelve several urban problems, and the problem of solid waste management is ranked third
(Islam, 1999). Urban dwellers of Bangladesh are not quite aware of this problem. As a result, they throw
garbage randomly instead of properly disposing it into designated bins. The role of central as well as urban
government is responsible for this as they largely failed to initiate effective motivational campaigns to increase
awareness of people on this issue.

5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Rapid urbanization in the cities of developing countries has been a dilemma of economic development and
environmental sufferings. This paper tries to emphasize the issue of urban population growth and consequential
challenges of urban sustainability focusing on solid waste managemetn in Dhaka city. It is evident that Dhaka
city is overwhelmingly growing because both of the pull factors and push factors, while the service provisions
and income earning opportunities are not provided with a same pace. Thus, the city is gradually going to be
suffering from inadequate infrastructural services, social insecurity, natural and man-made hazards, and poor
urban governance. This study demonstrates that responsible authorities have failed to manage generated solid
waste, one of the direct consequences of urbanization in Dhaka city, because of large population and budget
deficit. Finally, based on the urban challenges, this paper briefly recommends some strategies that need to be
considered in sustainable urban development policies. The recommendations are following:
i. Good governance, an efficient approach in sustainable urban development, implies adequate
transparency, accountability, decentralization, participation, coordination, and control which Bangladesh
is lacking in. Decentralization of economic growth and decentralization in political administrative
structure are inevitable. Dhaka has already grown to a massive population. Thus, immediate efforts
should be made to ease the pressure by getting up new satellite cities around the metropolis. Local
government or municipal authority should be independent and responsible for urban development and
planning instead of central government interference such as budgets. The central government should
provide overall master plan and guidelines of the development facilitating services, resources, and funds.
ii. A strong and active body of civil society can stimulate local as well as central government policies for
the sake of betterment of the society and sustainability. Environmental and social equity issues need to be
given more emphasis in urban development. CUS (Center for Urban Studies), BELA (Bangladesh
Environmental Movement Lawyer Association) and BAPA (Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon- Bangladesh
Environment Movement) are working in Dhaka with a vision of sustainable city. These organizations
need to be supported and strengthened further recognizing formally their existence.
iii. Privatization of the amenity services is another possible action which might be helpful to sustainable
urban development. There are lots of success stories of privatization of urban amenities in the developing
countries (Stiles, 2002). But, the opposite views of privatization are also significant and considerable
because of pro-rich nature of functioning and exclusion of the poor. In Bangladesh, this system might not
be successful while a major portion of urban people are absolutely poor.
iv. Increases of monitoring in service quality, particularly in the public sector.

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v. Door-to-door garbage collection in particular time notified in advance so that an environmental friendly
situation is obtained in the neighborhood.
vi. It is proposed that the solution lies in the private sector participation in delivering solid waste
management services. Particularly, public-private partnership (PPP) is often viewed as a potential
alternative to the traditional services delivered by the public sector alone.
vii. To ensure that waste is properly segregated at the point of its generation that does not subsequently
become mixed with, proper and secure storage facility for hazardous waste followed by appropriate safe
final disposal.
viii. Promotion of public awareness, appropriate policy and laws, and willingness are essential for proper
solid waste management in Dhaka city.
ix. Finally, we need to accentuate the important and essential issues based on priorities of the major part of
the urban people. Moreover, administrative and institutional reform, balanced regional development
strategies, and bottom-up approach in development policies should be implemented in on time.

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