Editorial
Dhaka in 2020
A daunting demographic challenge
Two research documents, one based on the World Bank survey and the other prepared by the UNFPA, gave an alarming future projection of the population growth in Dhaka city and the pressure on its amenities it will exert. According to these documents, at the current rate of increase of population, the metropolis will have to accommodate twenty million people by the year 2020. The present estimate of Dhaka's population is one (1) crore and the steady annual migration of about 3 to 4 lakh job-seeking people to Dhaka from the rural areas will eventually double the size of population by 2020. Surely for a resource-constrained country and a capital city with its limitations, rapid growth of population will spell disaster for the existing infrastructure like roads, sewer system, accommodation facilities and utility services. It is widely known that the agencies concerned are finding the task of meeting the current demand daunting; how would they cope with the situation in 2020 remains a big question in everyone's mind. It is conspicuously evident that because of shortage of proper housing facilities in the city, a large number of people are forced to take shelter in the shanties where health, hygiene and sanitation conditions are at their worst. With such a bleak scenario looming in the background, we believe a lot has to be done to prepare the city to withstand the pressure of another one crore more people. Alongside further expansion and modernisation of the infrastructure of the capital city to meet the future requirements, private and public investors will have to be encouraged to invest in the rural areas to create employment opportunities. One positive step would be to extend IT facilities to the rural areas to generate self-employment possibilities for the local youths. Land distribution among the landless poor and victims of river erosion is another step that experts recommend to stop rural-urban migration. We believe, decentralisation of power following the strengthening of the local government system will go a long way in building growth centres all over the country, thereby stemming the tide of influx of rural people into the urban areas.
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