Dhaka ranked 575th among 1,000 cities in the 2026 Oxford Economics Global Cities Ranking.
Representational image. A top shot of Dhaka city. The photo was taken from the Gulshan area in the capital. Photo: TBS
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Representational image. A top shot of Dhaka city. The photo was taken from the Gulshan area in the capital. Photo: TBS
Local government institutions are being sidelined in urban development planning and implementation due to centralised decision-making, bureaucratic hurdles and political interference, weakening city corporations and municipalities, experts said.
They said city corporations were increasingly being reduced to waste management and mosquito control agencies, undermining public participation and worsening infrastructure deficits and civic suffering.
They made the remarks at a dialogue titled “The Role of Local Government in Planned and Sustainable Urbanisation,” organised by the Urban Development Journalists Forum Bangladesh (UDJFB) at the Cirdap auditorium in Dhaka yesterday (13 November).
Adil Muhammed Khan, executive director of the Institute for Planning and Development, said urban management had failed to make expected progress despite more than 55 years of independence. Dhaka ranked 575th among 1,000 cities in the 2026
Oxford Economics Global Cities Ranking, while Mymensingh scored only 18.7 out of 100.
He said development authorities were allowing 14-storey buildings in areas previously restricted to four- or five-storey structures, without coordinating with city corporations to expand water, electricity, sewerage and road infrastructure.
Political interference and bureaucracy had eroded public trust in local government, while the absence of elected ward councillors left residents without effective remedies for problems such as encroachment on parks and playgrounds and road excavation, he added.
He proposed forming 10- to 12-member ward-level coordination committees of non-partisan citizens and empowering city corporations to coordinate other service providers.
Nazrul Islam, chief urban planner of Dhaka South City Corporation, said poor coordination was hampering master plan implementation. He called for ward-based action plans, infrastructure maps and databases, and a single, realistic master plan prioritising the public interest.
Presenting the keynote paper, Md Nurullah, former DSCC chief engineer, said the urban population had risen from 5% in 1960 to around 42.6% today. Yet, the Local Government Division had only 90 employees to oversee 5,479 local government institutions, while more than half of the approved municipal posts remained vacant.
He proposed forming a National Physical or Spatial Planning Council chaired by the prime minister, enacting a modern urban and rural planning law, and setting up planning departments staffed by urban planners and GIS specialists in local government institutions.
The event was chaired by the UDJFB President Matin Abdullah and moderated by its General Secretary Hasan Imon. Other speakers included journalists Amitosh Pal, Helimul Alam, Khalid Saifullah and Faisal Khan.
Five journalists received the Best Urban Reporting Award 2026. Mostafizur Rahman of Dhaka Mail won for reporting on urban services and public suffering; Md Zahidul Islam of Kaler Kantho and Latiful Islam of Asia Post for reporting on irregularities and corruption; Rashedul Hasan of Daily Sun for urban planning; and Gias Uddin Sajib of Channel 24 in the television category. The sixth edition of “Dhakai” magazine was also unveiled.
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