The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has released a new ranking of the world's most livable cities with Dhaka occupying the fourth last position.
The ranking of 140 cities has been published following conducting a survey of cities in different countries. Dhaka ranked 137th in the list.
Experts have expressed concern over this issue as the capital continues to remain the world’s least livable city. They think lack of planning, management, and governance is responsible for this deteriorating living condition of the city.
According to the new survey, New Zealand’s Auckland is at the top of the list of livable cities in 2021. Osaka in Japan occupied the second position and Australia’s Adelaide grabbed the third position.
Damascus has been ranked as the world's least liveable city. Most of the cities that were in the bottom in the previous list are still in the same position including Dhaka and Karachi.
Urban Planner Professor Nazrul Islam, expressing concern over the issue, told Bangladesh Post, “We either occupy the same position or deteriorate in these indexes every year. Weakness of governance is the main reason behind this issue. Every city has a central authority who is responsible for the planning and development of that city. We don’t have any organization that maintains proper coordination among the authorities”.
Dhaka scored 55 in stability, 16.7 in healthcare, 30.8 in culture and environment, 33.3 in education and 26.8 in infrastructure in the index.
Regarding the structure plan and the detailed area plan of RAJUK, he said, “Although this detailed plan that includes the use of land, environment, health and recreation is up to the mark, it has not been approved.”
He said that no results can be noticed despite the efforts of the mayors.
“The mayors of the city do not possess all the power. Some works are accomplished by RAJUK. People in different departments are not serious about their responsibilities from their individual position and most of them lack skills and knowledge,” he added.
The statements of the city mayors regarding this issue could not be obtained as they did not receive phone calls when contacted.
