45th Annual Meeting of the Western Regional Science Association, Santa Fé (USA) february Acta Geographica - Trondheim

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1 Foredrag/ Lectures Kh. Md. Nahiduzzaman, Axel Baudouin and Md. Musleh Uddin Hasan THE MYTH AND REALITY OF HOUSING THE POOR THROUGH PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN DHAKA 45th Annual Meeting of the Western Regional Science Association, Santa Fé (USA) february 2006 NTNU Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet Fakultet for samfunnsvitenskap og teknologiledelse Geografisk institutt Acta Geographica - Trondheim Serie B, Nr. 8 Series B, No. 8 Foredrag/Lectures Trondheim 2006 I n n o v a t i o n a n d C r e a t i v i t y

2 THE MYTH AND REALITY OF HOUSING THE POOR THROUGH PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN DHAKA Kh. Md. Nahiduzzaman 1 * MPhil Student at the Dept. of Geography, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Axel Baudouin 2 Associate Professor, Dept. of Geography, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Md. Musleh Uddin Hasan 3 Urban and Rural Planning Discipline, Khulna University, Bangladesh ABSTRACT In response to the increased rate of urbanization, RAJUK (Rajdhani Unnnayan Kartripakkhya), a capital development authority in Bangladesh, initiated a project adopting the state-of-the-art spatial approach to growth as a strategy in its capacity as the executive body responsible for the preparation and implementation of the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP). In recognition of the importance of the plan and in order to increase its implementability, public participation was considered one of the most significant features in the DMDP. Further, public participation was considered an inevitable part of the consideration of planning standards, including recommendations at each stage from Structure Plan (SP) to Detail Area Plan (DAP). By nature urban planning is a complex mix of socio-economic and political phenomena which involves many theoretical aspects and at the same time there are associated multifaceted factors in its implementation. In the past there have been many efforts at planning and managing the urban areas in Dhaka, yet in most cases these efforts were focused on planning without consideration of the rapid changes taking place in socioeconomic contexts, the strength and capacity of the public agencies concerned, or of the resources required. This paper is an assessment of the extent of inclusion of the public voice in the form of participation in the DAP, which is a reality on the ground. The DAP is an ongoing project, and based on a survey and interviews in the field this paper is an 1 shipluurp@yahoo.com, * corresponding author 2 axel.baudouin@svt.ntnu.no 3 musleh9602@yahoo.com 1

3 endeavour to identify the differences between theoretical practices as outlined in the DMDP and the actual situation. Keywords: public participation, structure plan, urban area plan, detail area plan INTRODUCTION The production of attractive and highly ambitious plans, whatever the type, is common practice in Bangladesh, as in any other Third World country (Talukder & Newman, 2004). The more modern the planning approach, the more complex its methodology, and the more spatial contexts involved, the more important sounding and rhetorical it becomes. Concern for public participation, which is a key issue in current planning philosophy, is of substantial importance in planning documents. With these reservations in mind, this study seeks to review the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP). Dhaka is a megalopolis the capital and largest metropolis of Bangladesh. Hence Dhaka s development plan is prone to sophisticated technical jargon and highly ambitious targets. This is already found at the planning level, given what is stated in the Structure Plan (SP) and Urban Area Plan (UAP) about the level and type of public participation as compared with the way it is sought to be achieved in the Detail Area Plan (DAP). In some cases, the way in which public voices are invited to be heard in the SP and the way this has been executed in the DAP are apparently contradictory. However, the degree, level and type of participation have not been documented properly in macro planning documents. Sometimes, too, the issues on the ground have not been considered properly. Therefore, when translating guidelines for public participation in the lowincome housing provisioning process in the SP into reality through the DAP the conditions cannot be adequately fulfilled at the different stages of the housing development process, such as site selection, tenure security, land development process, housing standard determination etc. Thus, a vast gap remains between what is targeted and what is achieved for housing people on low incomes. While revealing the gaps, this study will also attempt to identify the flaws in the area of public participation in the existing city development process. Based on first-hand data and existing literature it will also seek to analyze the reality in order to identify the problems and prospects of achieving an acceptable level of performance by ensuring public participation. As a 2

4 consequence, this study will urge for careful designing of public participation schedules and better implementation of the proposed and expected guidelines. STUDY METHODS This paper is based on the master s thesis of Kh. Md. Nahiduzzaman. In order to address the issue of community participation in the DMDP both a semi-structured questionnaire survey and the interviews were conducted using Duaripara slum area in Dhaka city as case study. Sixty households were surveyed based on a non-random judgmental sampling method. A questionnaire survey was conducted by dividing the total number of households into three strata according to the main breadwinner in the households (Table 1). Different professionals from RAJUK, private land developers, the Centre for Urban Studies, and private consulting firms were interviewed with the aid of interview guides. Table 1. Distribution of sample size according to the nature of the household. Household Sample size Female-headed household 21 Male-headed household 30 Household where many people live together 9 Total 60 STUDY AREA: A BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duaripara slum is located in the north-western part of Mirpur Thana in Dhaka City Corporation (DCC). This slum area can be divided into two categories according to the type of construction: row housing and hanging shelters. In the first case (row housing), the DCC provides minimal infrastructural facilities, such as drainage, a hand pump tubewell, and a herringbone bond (HBB) road, while in the latter case there are no such facilities (Photograph 1). Photograph 1: Row housing and hanging shelter in Duaripara slum 3

5 Hanging shelters are built on canals, with their bamboo architecture resembling stilt housing in the hilly areas of Bangladesh. The demographic information relating to the study area is shown in table 2. Table 2. Demographic information relating to the study area No. of Total population Area (acres) No. of wards households , Source: GOB (1996) DMDP IN THE LIGHT OF HOUSING THE POOR AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION Finding a solution to the shelter and housing problem for the urban population, especially the poor, is one of the major elements in the DMDP. The preparation of both a structure plan (policy oriented) and an urban area plan (mid-term strategies/recommendations) requires continuous participation by the community, whereas the DAP (implementation and reality on the ground) requires a strong and active participation at community level. This section endeavours to assess the level of involvement and participation of the stakeholders in providing housing facilities by analyzing the theories and different policy options in three stages of the DMDP (Fig. 1). Macro policy options Mid-term strategy according to policies Practice on the ground/reality Structure Plan ( ) Urban Area Plan ( ) Detail Area Plan ( ) Figure 1: Three stages of the DMDP. Structure Plan ( ) The Household and Expenditure Survey of 1988/89 recorded that 22.18% of Dhaka s urban population live at or below the absolute poverty level (as defined by the percentage of population below the recommended calorie intake of 2122 kilocalories per person per day), and a further 53.62% are defined as falling into the low income category, with below 5000 Taka (74.63 USD 4 ) per month. Of this total, it is estimated that 46.6% cannot afford any improvement in quality of their housing. The survey also confirm that 93% of all housing is provided through the private sector, of which 70% of all shelter is provided 4 1 USD = 67 Taka 4

6 UTTARA Shahid Nagar CANTONMENT Basentek Study area MIRPUR GULSHAN Agargaon Mohakhali MOHAMMADPUR TEJGAON Kolabagan Moghbaza Koral Kamrangir Char DHANMONDI Gopibag h LALBAGH RAMNA MOTIJHEL SABUJBAGH DEMRA Main CBD, administrative and commercial core KOTWALI Islambagh SUTRAPUR N Map 1: Study area (Duaripara) in context of Dhaka Metropolitan area Source: Survey of slum and squatter settlements in Dhaka city Final report prepared by Centre for Urban Studies (CUS), Dhaka for Urban Poverty Reduction Project (UPRP) (ADB TA 2410-BAN), sponsored by Asian Development Bank (ADB),

7 by the informal private sector, in which the majority are individual owner builders (DMDP, 1995). In this respect, it is important to mention what is recommended under the heading of Shelter and Housing in the SP: the SP proposes that the Government should only intervene in an enabling capacity in the following ways: Land Remove existing impediments in the supply, transfer and regulations of land for shelter; Facilitating Actions Introduce supporting actions designed to increase the operations of land and housing markets in favour of the majority of low to moderate income households; Environmental Impact Introduce supporting actions designed to minimize the impact of the shelter sector on environmental conditions, maintain basic public health and minimize the impacts of natural hazards on shelters. This enabling approach assumes a clear understanding of the comparative advantages and roles and consistent participation of the public and private formal and informal sectors at each stage of the development cycle of policy making, planning, design, implementation, and evaluation. Urban Area Plan ( ) Based on the SP, more specific recommendations have been given in the UAP, which are briefly listed here in order to show the provision for public participation under the heading Shelter and Housing. The total urban population was fragmented into 5 percentiles, according to monthly income, in order for more specific and practical recommendations to be made (DMDP, 1995): 0-10 percentile An analysis of the income (and expenditure) of the Dhaka households reveals that the first 10 percentile groups earn so little that they barely survive. Their daily activities are focused on bringing in enough money for food from odd jobs, begging and collecting/selling waste, to ensure that they stay alive. They sleep in the streets since they cannot afford to pay for shelter. Recommendations for this percentile Provision of a night shelter, sanitary facilities and food handouts against some services to be rendered by this group. 6

8 10-30 percentile The next 20 percentile group (10-30) survives, but has no savings since all additional income is spent on clothing, health, education, and housing. The housing is nothing more than shade either constructed traditionally (e.g., made of thatch/straw, bamboo, mud etc.) or from waste materials on vacant plots of less than 10 m 2. Despite being squatters they often have to pay rent or levies in order to be allowed to stay. The residential areas are often located on sites that are either hazardous (along railway tracks), dangerous (flood prone), or unhealthy (next to waste dumps). Recommendations for this percentile It is recommended that there is a reduction in the levies paid by introducing or guaranteeing some form of secure tenure and also by encouraging and facilitating community participation in the provision, operation and maintenance of an affordable level of basic services provision and access. This approach is likely to create a sense of ownership on the part of the community and to provide a platform for improvements in living standards and environmental conditions. By designing specific sites of new urban land for this group, in suitable and accessible locations in the urban fringe, the number of existing sites, which are often unhealthy, hazardous and dangerous, may be reduced gradually and eventually eliminated altogether percentile The next 20 percentile (30-50) are above the seriously poor and may have some savings that can be used to improve their living conditions. They require safety for their investments and small upgrading loans. Experience in Bangladesh and elsewhere suggests that given the right political and institutional framework and motivation this group is capable of organizing itself in community and neighbourhood groups, and in mobilizing community resources and effort. Through partnership with municipal, district and public sector (and private sector) infrastructure and community and social services delivery agencies, this group is capable of the implementation, operation and maintenance of tertiary levels of infrastructure and community and social provision. The Government should promote and support these initiatives by providing technical knowledge, design services, and/or site supervision, as well as food for work incentives, as appropriate. 7

9 Recommendations for this percentile The Government should acquire land in the fringe areas, or elsewhere, if deemed affordable, and by land filling to between 1 and 1.5 metres below high water level to make available a range of subsidized plots (10-20m 2 ) with secure tenure percentile Those that fall within this group are able to acquire small plots and to develop their shelters gradually from shacks into small but permanent structures. This process is ongoing on a large scale but has a very long implementation time, according to the findings recorded in the field surveys under the land control study. Recommendations for this percentile In the urban fringe areas, or elsewhere if deemed affordable, a range of options exist, from improved site and services and guided land development to the land consolidation scheme. Improved site and services, and guided land development schemes should be envisaged for new populations moving into the area, while the land consolidation scheme would facilitate adjustment or regularization of existing small and/or irregular plot boundaries, resulting in developable plots. Housing loans on preferential interest and repayment terms would further induce earlier development and have a beneficial impact on the labour market and economy by increasing income generation and job opportunities percentile For the 70 percentile upwards the market is open for the formal development schemes by RAJUK and by the private sector. With the present schemes of Dhanmondi, Mirpur, Gulshan, and Baridhara, as well as some smaller ones, this section is already well served. The slow development of Uttara is indicative of the saturation of the upper market. Recommendations for this percentile Since this section of the population is capable of meeting its own housing requirements the role of the public sector should be reduced to one of moderator or manager by providing at-cost major off-site infrastructure and by setting building standards and planning regulations that should be met. In some cases, adjacent lower income settlements may be served by the infrastructure of these formal developments (cross subsidy). 8

10 Detail Area Plan ( ): implementation on the ground The DAP is primarily concerned with the implementation of the recommendations in reality, as presented in the UAP. Based on the evidence (both primary and secondary data) collected during the field visit, this section focuses on the critical aspects of implementation at ground level. The recommendations in the UAP can be summarized as shown in table 3 Table 3. Summary of the recommendations in UAP Focal terms for recommendation Target group i. Secure tenure and community percentile of the urban population participation ii. Relocation in the urban fringe areas i. Land acquisition in the urban percentile of the urban population fringe areas ii. Subsidized plots with secure tenure i. Adoption of different land development techniques such as site and services schemes, land readjustment (LR), guided land development (GLD) percentile of the urban population Tenure security, land acquisition and relocation in the urban fringe a myth? When discussing with one of the urban planners from RAJUK it was revealed that RAJUK has no land banking provision to meet future needs or to face the challenge of rapid urbanization. On the contrary, sometimes with either government or donor funds, it acquires land when any project is on the verge of inception. This is seemingly contradictory because development organizations such as RAJUK should have a land bank scheme so that when needed, they could access the required amount of land without facing any land litigation problems, landownership disputes, and without paying exorbitant rates per unit of land. Community participation and adoption of land development techniques how far? According to urban planners from RAJUK, in the issue of community participation it is more a question of rhetoric than a reality because a very few meetings have been arranged with only the members from the Union Parishad 5 (who are elected for a certain 5 In the rural areas the hierarchy of administrative unit is: Thana/Upazila Parishad Union Parishad Village. 9

11 period) and without any participation from the grass roots level, such as villagers 6 or people from the urban fringes. Very strong and consistent participation of the stakeholders is required when a project is about to be started and where there is a question about the application of land development techniques such as land readjustment (LR) or guided land development (GLD), etc. For this kind of participation there is a requirement for an upgraded inventory of landowners. In the format of financial proposal under the terms of reference for five private consulting firms for executing the DAP, there is a requirement to prepare a new inventory for the landowners within the RAJUK jurisdiction. Apparently, this is a very tedious and time-consuming job as most of the litigations are landownership related (Chowdhury, 1992), and each consulting firm has been given a 2-year time period for the accomplishment of segments of the DAP that they have been assigned. When talking to an urban planner-cum-gis expert of Sheltech Consultant Pvt. Limited, it emerged that a landownership inventory is only being prepared with GIS mapping in some parts of the DMDP area, and in these cases there is an attempt to be more technical in approach by using GIS software and modern equipment, etc., rather than to produce a complete and upgraded inventory. Although there is a clear depiction of the cost for preparing land development techniques and community participation (DMDP, 1995), surprisingly there is no such effort at the execution level. At this point in the discussion the following questions may be raised: i. Why is community participation almost absent even at the execution level of the DMDP? ii. It is an open secret that the preparation of a new and upgraded inventory of landowners is very difficult, time consuming, and a high cost recursive job. At the same time, the land inventory is the most important standard for implementing land development techniques. The question is then why different techniques for land development for different percentiles of people have been proposed in the UAP whenever preparation of the landownership inventory is almost impossible (considering time and funds). Even when Government has the landownership inventory, questions may arise, such as how far stakeholders will agree to participate 6 Some rural areas fall under DMDP jurisdiction. 10

12 in the process of land development techniques. This warrants a further comprehensive study. iii. Whenever community participation is almost absent, there is lack of information concerning the stakeholders attitude regarding this kind of participation. This raises the question of how it may be feasible to execute and implement different land development techniques for the different percentile of urban population. iv. The urban poor are extremely mobile. In the implementation process it is proposed to relocate the and the percentiles of urbanites to the fringe areas. The question is whether this proposition fits with the mobility behaviour of the urban poor. POLITICIZATION OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF RAJUK The organizational structure of RAJUK is hierarchical and the chairman holds supreme power and authority in all decision-making activities (Husain, 1988). The next person in the structure, in terms of power and authority, is the member and there are five categories of member in five divisions: i. Member (Administration and Land), ii. Member (Estate), iii. Member (Finance), iv. Member (Development), and v. Member (Planning). The most noticeable thing is that these high commanding posts are appointed politically by the ruling government party for a limited period of time. Most of the members are nonprofessionals and they may not have enough expertise to execute their assigned responsibilities (Husain, 1988). The chairman and members have connections with the ruling government party and it is regarded as a privilege or a kind of reward to hold such strategic positions. Political pressure continues to play a vital role in sustaining corruption in Bangladesh (Almas Zakiuddin, 2002). Due to politicization, the officials are somehow bound to satisfy those politicians who are responsible for recruiting them. The results of a survey for a sociological study on corruption found that 62% of respondents believed that the primary responsibility for corruption in Bangladesh lay in the hands of government officials (Almas Zakiuddin, 2002). Corruption in Bangladesh: a household survey, released on 20 April 2005, revealed that incidences of corruption are highest in land administration, the police and the lower judiciary. 7 Based upon the discussion and 7 (accessed 7 October 2005) 11

13 evidence presented above, matters such as land acquisition and community participation, etc. can be summarized as follows: i. In cases of acquisition for a project, RAJUK has to pay an exorbitant amount of money per unit of land compared to existing prices in the land market. Here it can be assumed that the members of RAJUK have some kind of business dealings with the landowners, land developers, and others. ii. In some cases such as land acquisition or in any plan/project where a substantial amount of money is involved and when business dealings may be a major concern for the high-level employees of government bodies such as RAJUK, community participation becomes least important and sometimes even a myth. URBAN HOUSING AND MOBILITY PATTERN OF THE URBAN POOR The urban poor have little access to urban land and they mostly build their houses on vacant private and government land and thereby become squatters in the city. Most are living in self-constructed houses, known locally as jupri. These houses are made of low cost housing materials such as Corrugated Iron sheet bamboo, straw, and polythene and are highly vulnerable during the rainy season. Only 18% of the poor households in Dhaka city are living in semi-structured houses with permanent walls (Hossain, 2004). The overwhelming majority (73.8%) of these poor urban dwellers customarily live in oneroom houses. In many cases, more than five members of the households live in one congested room (Hossain, 2004). In some households it is also not uncommon for people to live in appalling conditions, with 20 to 30 people living in a single room. Most of the poor have no individual access to the city s water supply and they collect drinking water from a common municipal tap or from hand-pumped tube-wells. More than 65% of the households have no access to sewerage systems and share temporary pit latrines that they dig themselves or they use open drains beside the roads (Hossain, 2004). The urban poor are highly mobile in nature. The dimension and pattern of their mobility depends highly on close proximity (within 2-3 Km) to their workplaces (field survey 2005). The average duration of stay in the Duaripara slum was found to be years for female-headed households and 1-2 years for male-headed households. One of the main reasons for such short periods of stay may be related to job insecurity and also the options to switch to the same kind of jobs in other locations (field survey, 2005). Most of the 12

14 household members of Duaripara slum area work in the garment factories, which are within walking distance. There are many big garment factories very close by and this is one of the main reasons for the development of such a big slum area (Image 1). With regard to shelter and housing, when the issue of community participation arises, consideration of the mobility behaviour of the slum dwellers is of prime concern. The UAP recommends relocation of the urban poor settlements to secure tenures in the fringe areas and in this regard it is most important to know about the opportunity to settle down in the urban fringes, the mobility behaviour of the urban poor, and associated factors resulting this mobility pattern, since behaviour and associated factors are of significance for the following reasons: i. To formulate the strategies in order to ensure maximum participation from the slum community ii. To recommend spatial choice as a solution to the housing and shelter problem. In the DMDP there is no such study on the mobility patterns of the urban poor which can be used as a basis for determining the locational choice of housing and hence the economic value of such choices. How, then, can it be feasible to recommend conventional community participation without having an idea of the nature of their mobility? DONOR ASSISTANCE The DMDP, which is under the project of Preparation of Structure Plan, Master Plan and Detail Area Plans for Dhaka, is one of the UNDP s aided projects implemented in co-operation with UNCHS/HABITAT in Dhaka (DMDP, 1995). This is a five year project with a total project cost of Tk lac (2.41 millions USD), of which the UNDP contribution is Tk lac (2.06 millions USD), which is 85.6% of the total amount (DMDP, 1995). For any kind of large-scale local government development project, such as development authorities, city corporations, municipalities, etc., donor agencies almost always have a major contribution. Municipalities with larger special grants and that are covered under different donor-driven projects allocate large portions of expenditure on physical infrastructure, a compulsory component of such 13

15 Image 1: Location of study area and garment factories (Source: IWM, 2003) LEGEND Row housing Hanging shelter Garment factories Distance from the slum (2-3 Km.) 14

16 projects. Most of the larger local government s new infrastructure development is financed through foreign aid and government grants. Urban government owned funds for the majority of the bodies are not even sufficient for the maintenance of existing infrastructure (Chowdhury, 2004). There is much more evidence of donors contribution as development assistance for addressing and solving existing and emerging urban issues. An inventory of such funding in different projects since 1992 is presented in Table 4 below. With regard to the responsibilities of the donors, past evidence shows they only have interest on annual or periodical monitoring or interim reports. Table 4. Projects undertaken through donors funding. Project title Slum improvement project (1 st phase) Secondary Town Infrastructure Improvement Project I Rehabilitation of Infrastructure of Towns affected by 1998 Flood Secondary Town Flood Protection Urban Basic Service Delivery Technical Assistance for preparation of Urban Governance & Improvement of Infrastructure Secondary Town Infrastructure Improvement Project II Municipal Services Project Urban Poverty Alleviation through Local Participation Urban Governance & Improvement of Infrastructure Project Source: Chowdhury (2004) Project cost in million USD Donor agency Implementation period No. and municipal unit Progress 3.63 UNICEF City 100% corporations, 21 Municipalities 32.4 ADB Municipalities 100% ADB Municipalities 100% ADB Municipalities, 1 100% City Corporation 5.55 UNICEF Municipalities 100% 0.30 ADB Municipalities 100% 56.9 ADB City Corporations 94% World Bank City Corporation 45% UNDP & UNICEF City Corporations 8 Municipalities 11% ADB Municipalities Ongoing MATTERS FOR CONSIDERATION AND CONCLUDING REMARKS 15

17 The skewed landownership pattern in Dhaka city where the planning agency RAJUK has very little control may be addressed as transposition of a feudal system upon the modern urban fabric. In order to have a minimal degree of tenure security the slum dwellers have been paying rent to those who subsequently control the slums. Plans such as the DMDP may be only undertaken to adopt Western ideology, in order to show the level of modernity the country has but without any attempt to apply to the socio-economic, institutional and political contexts. This may be seen merely an attempt to mislead the experts, donors and monitoring bodies in the effort to secure a significant amount of money through development cooperation. The question should be asked whether the plan for itself and whether it is for modernity? It has been repeatedly said that the urban poor were to be relocated in the fringe areas, depending upon the percentile they belong to, which means that the urban core areas are saturated and no more areas are left for further development. There is a movement leading towards an apparent social and geographical segregation between the people in the city core and poor in the urban fringe. Thus, in fact, there may not have been any attempt to concretize the principles of the plan. The executive public body concerned, RAJUK, is responsible for the preparation and implementation of the DMDP. According to the roles it has played at the execution level, specific questions about the efficiency of this organization and its officials can be raised when major components in the document such as community participation are almost absent. When there is no land banking provision, an absence of basic studies such as the attitude of the urbanites towards adoption of land development techniques, mobility behaviour of the urban poor, and absence of important and upgraded land information such as its ownership inventory, not only are the development goals difficult to attain, they are not even attempted. The urban poor do have some degree of agency which has been acknowledged and documented in the plan but this has been ignored in the implementation phase. Overall, based on the discussions above and while attempting to measure the gap between the myth and reality of the DMDP, should we perhaps describe the total phenomenon as organized inefficiency? REFERENCES 16

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