In rank with war-torn cities: Why Dhaka is one of the least liveable places in the world

Infrastructure is one of five main categories that the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) evaluates while scoring the liveability index of cities each year. Surprisingly, Dhaka often ranks with a war-torn city like Damascus. 

In fact, for the last five years, the city has consistently scored poorer than Damascus – a city ravaged by civil war for years. Other key categories include stability, healthcare, education, culture and environment. 

With tons of money poured into mega projects like Metro Rail and Elevated Expressway, Dhaka has still somehow managed to secure a position with some of the least liveable cities around the world.  

The EIU indicators within the infrastructure category include quality of road network, public transport, international links, good quality housing, energy provision, water provision and telecommunications. 

In 2019, Dhaka scored 26.8 in infrastructure while Damascus scored 32.1. The EIU didn't publish the index in 2020 due to the pandemic, however, in 2021, 2022, and 2023, the infrastructure scores between Damascus and Dhaka remained eerily similar with Dhaka having 26.8 and Damascus 32.1. 

According to urban planners in the country, the lack of quality infrastructure – which a megacity desperately requires – is responsible for Dhaka's state.

For instance, Dhaka's main roads are standard, but if you look at the entirety of the city's infrastructure then its lack of footpaths, year-long digging, inefficient mass transport facility, state of internal roads etc signals hardly any improvement.

Except in 2023 when Dhaka scored 41.7 in healthcare, it scored abysmal in rank with Damascus in this category as well. Scores in previous years were 29.2, 16.7, and 29.2. 

The only category that saved Dhaka was stability with above 50 on average. 

In comparison with cities somewhat closer to Dhaka, both Delhi and Mumbai share the same rank of 141 by scoring 60.2 on the index. Dhaka's rank is 166 with a score of 43.8. Among other Indian cities, Chennai scored 59.9, Ahmedabad 58.9, and Bengaluru 58.7. What went so wrong for Dhaka?

Photo: TBS

Deviation from simple planning

Simple planning is the best planning– this was the idea of the 2005 Strategic Transport Plan for Dhaka. It included significantly improving public transportation and prioritising public buses, that there should be a lot of standard public buses in the city. Given that Dhaka is a megacity, many people walk the city every day and hence the walking facilities should be improved.

"But the country soon shifted to mega projects like Metro Rail, Elevated Expressway etc," said urban planner Adil Mohammed Khan, adding, "For example, if we ensured standard public transport instead of Metro Rail, and standard footpaths, we could reduce Dhaka's transport problem by 50% whereas with the metro addresses about 6% to 7% of the problem."

Urban planner Iqbal Habib is also on the same page as Adil. 

"Instead of larger projects, what should have been done is what Bogota, Bolivia or other South American countries did. Our cities should have been more public transport and footpath friendly," said Iqbal. 

Not an inclusive city

Iqbal Habib, however, finds fundamental flaws in the modality of the Economist Intelligence Unit's city ranking for their comparison between a hustling, bustling and densely populated city like Dhaka with picturesque cities like Melbourne or Vienna in the same categories.

"Find me one country where 10% of the people live in 1% of land and generate 32% to 34% of the GDP," he said. 

However, this doesn't necessarily overshadow his observation of the flaws of Dhaka city. Among several fundamental issues with the city, Iqbal says it is not at all-inclusive. 

"For example, our Elevated Expressway is for private cars. These private cars are used by only about 10% of the people. If I build such a big project for 10% of people, the rest 90% are not included in this," he said. 

"Whereas we could adopt a footpath-centric development with 1/100^th of the expense [of expressway]. People could move around the city by walking," he added. 

According to research, about 44% of the city people move within one to two kilometres. Adequate trees with proper footpaths could provide a pleasant walking experience in the city. But greenery is another front where Dhaka is badly struggling. 

Disregard for greeneries and water bodies 

In 1992, around 47% of Dhaka's northern part was green. By 2002, this dropped to 31%, 18% in 2012 and 16.17% in 2022, according to a study published in the US-based journal Plos Sustainability and Transformation.

Similarly, according to a study by the Bangladesh Institute of Planners, in 1999, water bodies accounted for over 14% of Dhaka, which shrunk to a little over 4% in 2019. 

Dhaka city area lost 22% of over one lakh acres of water bodies covering floodplain (land area susceptible to flooding), water retention areas, canals, rivers and other open sources of surface water between 2010 and 2019. 

A recent report by TBS said that in Dhaka metro alone, over a third of water bodies were filled by both government and private development works. 

In the suburbs, road and commercial complex works depleted 41% of natural water bodies in Rupganj, followed by 21% in Keraniganj, 15% in Savar, and 17% in Gazipur. Nearly 82% area of the city was covered by concrete structures in 2019, up from 64% two decades ago. 

Dhaka's structure plan was devised in 1995 where residential areas were separated from industrial areas. But the government agencies eventually allowed haphazard industrial growth. Every law prohibits polluting the environment and rivers but that too happened in full knowledge of agencies. 

"If 20 years ago, we planned that we will not allow the destruction of any pond and canal in Dhaka, rather our plans will centre around them, that we will preserve them, that we will create some cost-effective landscaping around them, our water bodies wouldn't have reduced while water stagnation soared," said Adil Mohammad Khan. 

"The housing companies filled up the water bodies surrounding Dhaka indiscriminately. There is a law to prevent them but they are still doing it," he said, adding, "The simple policy was made complex. Personal interest or group interest reigned over everything and the institutions didn't stand up to face such challenges." 

The 'most' liveable cities 

If you look at the list of top liveable cities including Vienna, Melbourne and Sydney, all of them scored 100/100 in infrastructure. 

They also scored near 100 in all the other categories. Side by side with the toppers, Dhaka's respective scores – in line with cities like Tripoli, Lagos or Damascus – look miserable. 

So, what makes Vienna the top liveable city in the world? 

According to EIU, the city's "winning combination of stability, good culture and entertainment, reliable infrastructure, and exemplary education and health services" contributed to its continued success. 

Vienna's world-class public transport sector is envious. Whether the residents want to take a walk, cycle to work or subway, it is a smooth experience getting around the city. Its efficient, reliable and inexpensive trams, metro and buses are rarely overcrowded. 

There is a social housing programme regulated by the government that ensures affordable housing to the residents with diverse amenities. Besides, this is one of the cleanest cities in the world. Along with minimal air pollution, as most people choose public transport, Vienna is one of the greenest cities in the world. 

Photo: TBS

Good governance is the quick fix

We asked urban planners what could be a quick fix for the steadily declining liveability index to settle at a moderate score. 

They said that first of all, Dhaka cannot afford "a single more brick." Besides, what the city needs is the rule of law. It must be ensured that all agencies are made accountable for their actions and they carry them out as assigned. 

"The biggest challenge is to improve governance. If we can make the agencies effective, engage the community, and revisit our plan to see if they are beneficial at all, it could bring about a change," Adil suggested.  

"We mistakenly think that infrastructure is the challenge. It is completely wrong. Instead of new infrastructure, we should think of good governance in Dhaka, increasing greeneries, and nature-based planning," he added. 

Iqbal Habib said that Dhaka has enough infrastructure considering the population the city should actually have. "But we allowed at least 18 times more than what the population of this city should be." 

Decentralisation is the solution 

Decentralisation has long been discussed in Bangladesh. The urban planners say no plan to save Dhaka will be enough if people's flow to Dhaka cannot be reduced. 

"A deadlock has been created through the centralisation of resources," Iqbal Habib opined. He said that the mentality of Dhaka having the best education, health services, housing, food etc has to change.  

"We have to come out of the flawed idea that Dhaka has to contain the entire population. Instead, we should adopt a threshold population based on locality. Dhaka doesn't have the capacity to contain an infinite population," Adil Mohammed concluded.