Dhaka City Corporation

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dhaka City Corporation......................................................................................................................................................... 3 Profile ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 History ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Dissolution ........................................................................................................................................................................ 3 Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) ................................................................................................................. 4 Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) .................................................................................................................. 4 Departments of DCC .......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Objective...................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Methodology .............................................................................................................................................................................. 6 Scope ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 6 Rationale ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Literature Review .................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Findings ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Traffic Jam Problem ........................................................................................................................................................... 9 Sanitation Facilities.......................................................................................................................................................... 10 IT Integration of the DCC ............................................................................................................................................... 10 Revenue Generation ........................................................................................................................................................ 10 Strategy 1: Integrate Departments ................................................................................................................................. 11 Strategy 2: Ensure Accountability, Sustainability and Efficiency within the Organization .................... 11 Specific recommendations ............................................................................................................................................ 11 Strategy 3: Better Budget Allocation ............................................................................................................................. 11 New Sources of Revenue................................................................................................................................................ 11 Need for a Continuous Assessment Process .......................................................................................................... 12 Raising Awareness about Tax Assessment ............................................................................................................ 12 Improving the Computerized Database System .................................................................................................. 12 Updating the Tax Collection Records ....................................................................................................................... 12 Strategy 4: Privatization ..................................................................................................................................................... 12 List of Interviewees .............................................................................................................................................................. 13 References ................................................................................................................................................................................ 14

DHAKA CITY CORPORATION

PROFILE
Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) is the former self-governing corporation that is associated with the task of running the affairs of the city of Dhaka. The incorporated area is divided into several wards. Each ward has an elected ward commissioner. The mayor of the city is elected by popular vote every five years, although the last mayoral election took place in 2002. The Corporation was dissolved by the Local Government (City Corporation) Amendment Bill 2011 on November 29, 2011, passed in the Parliament of Bangladesh, and formally ceased to exist on December 1, 2011 following the President's approval, making way for a North and South city corporation. According to the existing law, the executive power of the Corporation vests in and exercised by the Mayor/Administrator. The Corporation constitutes Several Standing Committees and other Committees to monitor and guide the diversified activities of the organization. The Mayor/administrator is assisted by the Chief Executive Officer, who in turn, is assisted by the Secretary, the Heads of Departments and Zonal Executive Officers.

HISTORY
Dhaka City Corporation was established as the Dacca Municipality on August 1, 1864. The first elected chairman was Ananda Chandra Roy. Prior to that, a Committee for the improvement of Dacca was formed in 1823. The Act of 1884 added the provision of elected representatives called commissioners. The City area was divided into 50 wards and election of Ward Commissioners was held in 1977 with the introduction of "Pourashava Ordinance, 1977". Ward Commissioners elected one of their members as the Chairman of the Municipality. In 1978, Dhaka Municipality was awarded the status of Corporation and the existing Chairman became the Mayor of the Corporation. Municipal Corporation was superseded by the promulgation of Martial law in March, 1982. Two adjacent municipalities, namely Mirpur and Gulshan Municipalities were merged with Dhaka Municipality in the same year. As a result the number of wards increased to 56. In 1993, the Government with a view to democratize the city corporation, made drastic amendment in Ordinance, 1983 and repealing the application of pourashava that the Mayor and the Commissioners will be elected by direct election on the basis of adult franchise. The City area is divided into 90 wards to represent one Commissioner, elected directly, form each ward. There are 18 reserved seats exclusively for women Commissioners who are elected by the Mayor and the Commissioners. The election of the Corporation was held in January, 1994 and Mr. Mohammad Hanif became the first elected Mayor. In April 2002, Mr. Sadeque Hossain Khoka was elected Mayor of Dhaka City Corporation.1

DISSOLUTION
The Awami League government on 29 November 2011 dissolved the Dhaka City Corporation by the Local Government (City Corporation) Amendment Bill 2011 passed by the Parliament of
Chronological Development of DNCC. (n.d.). Retrieved August 19, 2013, from Dhaka North City Corporation: http://www.dncc.gov.bd/dncc-setup/chronological-development-of-dncc.html
1

Bangladesh after being placed in the Parliament on November 23. The city corporation will be split into two corporations, North and South, with the southern wing holding more territory than the north. Each corporation will be a self-governing entity, thus giving the city of Dhaka two mayors. The government holds that bifurcation would ensure better quality of civic services to the denizens of the city.2

DHAKA NORTH CITY CORPORATION (DNCC)

Dhaka North City Corporation consists of 36 wards covering the thanas of Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Sher-E-Bangla Nagar, Pallabi, Adabor, Kafrul, Dhaka Cantonment, Gulshan, Banani, Badda, Uttara & some others. At past days, there were two municipalities named Mirpur Pourosova & Gulshan Pourosova and some Union Parisads of Dhaka District on this urban region. The Government has appointed Mr. Khurshed Alam Chowdhury (Additional Secretary to the Government) as the Administrator for DNCC.3

DHAKA SOUTH CITY CORPORATION (DSCC)

Dhaka South City Corporation consists of 56 wards covering the thanas of Dhaka Kotwali, Motijheel, Sutrapur, Ramna, Bangsal, Wari, Gendaria, Chwokbazar, Lalbagh, Hazaribagh, Dhanmondi, Shahbagh, New Market, Khilgaon, Kamrangirchar & some others. The Government has appointed 1st administrator Mr. Md. Khalilur Rahman (additional Secretary) and 2nd administrator Mr. Md. Zillar Rahman (additional Secretary) as the Administrator of DSCC.4

DEPARTMENTS OF DCC
Accounts o Looks over the budget preparation and payment of bills and salaries and any other kind of financial management. Conservancy Engineering o Construction and Maintenance of anything that is publicly used and is under jurisdiction of DSCC. Establishment o Administration, recording of data and Security. Estate o Governance of Land under the jurisdiction of the DSCC. Health o Health issues concerning hospitals, insect control and animal control. Information Technology o Application of Information Technology (IT) in the planning & day-to-day operational activities. Internal Audit

Chronological Development of DNCC. (n.d.). Retrieved August 19, 2013, from Dhaka North City Corporation: http://www.dncc.gov.bd/dncc-setup/chronological-development-of-dncc.html 3 Dhaka North City Corporation. (n.d.). Retrieved August 19, 2013, from Dhaka North City Corporation: http://www.dncc.gov.bd/ 4 Dhaka South City Corporation. (n.d.). Retrieved August 19, 2013, from Dhaka South City Corporation: http://www.dhakasouthcity.gov.bd/index.php
2

o Law o

To carry out internal audit related to the organization and any projects that it handles.

To look after right, title and interests of Dhaka South City Corporation matters (person/property) with respect to legal aspect. Public Relation o To build up rapport and close connection with the press and promote the activities of the Mayor/Administrator of DNCC. Revenue o Collection of Tax, issuing of trade license and license for cars and jurisdiction over DSCC owned markets. Slum Development o Improvement of slums and providing of necessary education. Social Welfare o Organization of social places and promotion of sports. Transport o Management and Security of Bus Terminals and other transports. Urban Planning o Planning of City Urbanization and Beautification

OBJECTIVE
DCC has been the self-governing corporation that was associated with the task of running the affairs of the capital city of Bangladesh, Dhaka. Recently, with the increasing size of the urban areas in Dhaka, the Government has seen fit to pass a bill to divide the areas of Dhaka to be governed by two separate corporations, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC). However, like almost all public services in Bangladesh, DNCC and DSCC are also fraught with numerous administrative and performance issues. With the City Corporations being extremely significant to the overall scenario of the capital city of Bangladesh, it is important to identify the performance issues and identify scopes of improvement. Here, performance issues may cover problems regarding: Traffic jam i.e. transport Sanitation Pollution (land, sound, air, etc)

Therefore, the job of the paper is to recommend strategies for the improvement of the governance of the separate City Corporations after a thorough identification of the challenges faced by the organizations.

The research will identify the following aspects for each department of DCC: Analyze the performance of the city corporation in different services provided by these regulatory bodies Identify existing and potential problems with the services Propose strategies and recommendations

METHODOLOGY
To measure the performance of the organization, related data regarding their departments that looks after the basic services that the organization is supposed to offer, and implementation of rules and procedures regarding these services, will be collected from several sources including the DCC website, and different articles and studies that have been done separately to address the issues at hand. Several interviews will also be taken of authority personnel who are in charge of these services so that an inside view of the processes can also be found.

SCOPE
This paper deals with the problems and challenges faced by the govt. organization DCC, otherwise known as Dhaka City Corporation. The paper will also look into the departments that are handled by the DCC, i.e. the departments under the newly constituted organizations Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC)

RATIONALE
At the moment, one of the biggest problems for Bangladesh is over-population and Dhaka city is the most vulnerable one threatened by this problem. Every day, the number of inhabitants in Dhaka city is increasing. As a result, providing basic amenities for this huge population is becoming tougher day by day. To ease the management of these issues, govt. took an appreciable initiative by dividing Dhaka City Corporation into two parts DNCC and DSCC. Still, these two organizations are facing numerous problems and they have to adapt innovative approach to solve these problems. This challenging task as well as the desire for developing our country motivated us to work with these problems.

LITERATURE REVIEW
It is not very long ago, Dhaka possessed an image as a city of green and water bodies. Within last few decades this serene and tranquil city has been transformed into one of the most polluted and crowded cities in the world. Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) is responsible for managing the city. The jurisdic of DCC area is 154 km2 and accommodates about 5.3 million people.5 It is projected that the population would reach 10 million by the year 2015 (Islam and Shafi, 2004). Around 15% of the citizens live in slums and squatters which are scattered all over the city.6 This is creating pressure on the services and infrastructure of the city and making the tasks of DCC more difficult to the point of unmanageable. Traffic jam can be considered as one of the serious global problems for both developed and under developed countries.7 Traffic congested areas, especially in the urban areas traffic jams are an annoying and harmful problem to the residents and travelers. It is the consequence of discrepancy between transportation demand and supply.8 Literature suggests that traffic noise caused adverse health effects on people.9 10 11 The traffic policemen in metropolitan cities are the most affected groups exposed to this dangerous factor during their working hours and in their leisure time.12 According to Martin et. al., (2006) noise pollution occurred by traffic congestion is considered as one of the main problems of urban communities which has many hazardous effects on the urban environment.13 It has been found that individual incidents like car accidents or car braking when spread out heavily, sustained traffic jam suddenly occurs.14 Rickshaws are commonly blamed for the traffic chaos in Bangladesh, particularly in Dhaka city. Thus for reducing traffic jam Bangladesh Government has already banned rickshaws in certain chocks (A chocks is a central area where several streets meet) and major roads of Dhaka city.

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (2006). Census Report 2001, Dhaka Zilla. Dhaka, Government of Bangladesh. Asian Development Bank (2008). Dhaka Water Supply and Sanitation. Manila, ADB. 7 Najneen, F., Hoque, K.S., Mahmood, S.M.S., Rahman, S., Sharmin, M. (2010) Traffic congestion due to unplanned activities on road-A case study on Gollamari-Satkhira, outer by-pass (Phase- II) and GollamariBatiaghata Road. Bangladesh research publications Journal. 4(2), 185-197. 8 Habid, K.M.N. (2000). Evaluation of Planning Options to Alleviate Traffic Congestion and Resulting Air Pollution in Dhaka City. Thesis paper. 9 Al-Dakhllah, A. N.; Jadaan, K. S., (2005). Attitudes of Jordanian population towards road traffic noise. Int. J. Appl. Sci. Eng., 3 (2), 145-150. 10 Anonymous, (1983). Noise pollution survey in Bombay, Scavenger, 3-9. 11 Chakraborty, D.; Santra, S. C.; Mukherjee, A., (1997). Status of road traffic noise in Calcutta metropolis, India. J. Acoust. Soc. 101(2), 943-949. 12 Omidvari, M. and Nouri, J. (2009) Effects of noise pollution on traffic policemen Int. J. environ. Res., 3(4):645-652 13 Martin, M.A., Tarrero, M.A., Gonzalez, A. and Machimbarrena, M. (2006). Exposureeffect relationships between road traffic noise annoyance and noise cost valuations in Valladolid, Spain. J. Appl. Acoust., 67 (10), 945-958. 14 Remi, A.J., Adegoke, A.A.I., Oyerinde, A.J. (2009) A Study of the Causes, Effects and ameliorative Measures of Road Traffic Congestion in Lagos Metropolis. European journal of Social Sciences 11(1), 119-128.
5 6

Slum population has also largely increased in Bangladesh over the last three decades along with the growth and expansion of cities and towns. Urban poverty is largely due to the transfer of the rural poor people to urban areas.15 The major portion of excreta from these slums is deposited into water bodies and open places which pollute water sources, groundwater and the general environment. As a result, majority of the population in Bangladesh suffer from different kinds of water and excreta-borne diseases that aggravate their poverty situations. One of the widely criticized services of DCC is mosquito control.16 17 18 19 Almost in every summer there is outbreak of dengue fever in the city. Mosquito is the career of dengue virus. Thus mosquito control is a vital service for citizen.

Pramanik B, Sarker D.C, Sarker R.C, Assessment of Water Supply and Sanitation Facilities for Korail Slum in Dhaka City, IJCEE-IJENS, 11(5):115-128, 2011. 16 Hossain, M. (2002). Dhaka battles dengue crisis. Retrieved 15th March, 2008, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2193381.stm. 17 Hossain, M. I. and Wagatsuma, Y., et al. (2004). Analysis of some Socio-demographic Factors Related to DF/DHF Outbreak in Dhaka City. Dengue Bulletin 24. 18 Alam, H. (2005). Mosquito menace on as DCC fails. New Age. Dhaka. 19 Independent Bangladesh (2008). Mosquito menace makes life difficult in capital.
15

FINDINGS
TRAFFIC JAM PROBLEM
Increasing number of vehicle In Bangladesh, population and traffic growth rate is approximately 1.5 and 7 percent respectively. But road expanding rate is not at all unmentionable with respect to higher traffic growth. Inadequacy of traffic police Traffic police in Dhaka is inadequate in numbers. All the cross roads need at least four traffic police at a time but in Dhaka it is seen that the number of traffic police is always short and due to the lacking of proper instruction the vehicles are getting trapped in jam. Illegal Parking Illegal parking on the road has been creating congestion every day. On-road parking of vehicles is one of the main reasons behind serious traffic congestion on different parts of the port city Increasing number of population All the areas of Dhaka city is facing an increasing number of populations which is a bad indicator for the traffic management and this could be a vital reason behind traffic jam Higher Purchasing power of the public Due to the higher purchasing power of the citizen of Dhaka the popularity of private transportation is increasing but existing roads and highway are not supportive or changing according to the increasing number of vehicle. As a result vehicle congestion is increasing at an alarming rate. Corruption in issuing driving license Driving license is issued by BRTA in Dhaka city but due to corruption people with few driving knowledge are getting the license. As a result the rate of accident is increasing; on the other hand due to violence of traffic rules, traffic congestion is often seen. In the whole country the total number of illegal or without licensed driver is about 80000. People are becoming driver after working as a helper under a driver for few years. Fly over construction Flyover is under construction for which people of Dhaka are going through some huge traffic congestion problem.

SANITATION FACILITIES
Lack of practice of good hygiene There is a lack of knowledge about the hygienic practices that should be carried out to maintain sanitary conditions in the slum areas of the city. However it is slowly improving. Pit latrines are not placed correctly This causes ground water contamination which reaches the wells, ponds, and rivers used to bathe, drink or cook. Increasing ditches of unclean water This leads to infestation of mosquitoes and therefore increasing chances of diseases that are carried by mosquitoes.

IT INTEGRATION OF THE DCC

The decision to build or enhance a management information system (MIS) raises its own set of tough questions about what information to collect and how to use it. It also brings up the challenge to literate employees technically to use the information system for maximum efficiency. Moreover, budget allocations for this system in a strict and bureaucratic environment like the city corporation will be a major hindrance.

REVENUE GENERATION
Constant Budget Revision: Despite revising its budget each year, DCC has failed to achieve even the revised target. In practice, DCC usually prepares its original budget on the basis of a 10 percent increase over the previous year. They do not take actual income and expenditure patterns into account while projecting the budget. They do not even consider using average method for projecting future income and expenditure, though this is a widely used statistical tool. Untimely Submission of Budgets: DCC is reluctant to submit its budget to the Ministry on time. Similarly, the Ministry is less than serious about examining the budget and taking appropriate action on time. Reluctance of People to Pay Taxes: The City Corporation dwellers are unenthusiastic to pay the taxes, because some dwellers are not provided by the utility services from the City Corporation. Lack of Awareness: People do not pay, not because they are reluctant to pay but primarily because of lack of awareness among the tax payers. So, it will be very difficult to collect such tax if the rate of tax is increased. Political Intervention: Local representative feel that popularity will be greater than before among the dwellers, if the tax rate is not increased. So it is clear that self esteem of local representatives get priority.

STRATEGY 1: INTEGRATE DEPARTMENTS

There should be well written, relevant and inspiring organizational mission statements that the force can relate to and own. The mission statement should be communicated over and over during the training phase. This statement should be carried into every single department so that everyone works towards the same goal i.e. to serve the citizens and not focus on collection of revenues. A hotline (phone number or mail box) may be introduced in the office of both the Dhaka North City Corporation and the Dhaka South City Corporation to receive all sorts of complaints related to irregularities and corruption of the DCC. This will be similar to the one installed in Philadelphia as outlined by the first case study Transforming City Government - A Case Study of Philly311.

STRATEGY 2: ENSURE ACCOUNTABILITY, SUSTAINABILITY AND EFFICIENCY WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION

SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS
Ensure effective communication among different departments to make sure everyone strives for a common goal of serving the viewers Minimize misallocation of funds and other resources by effective inter-departmental coordination and integration Decentralize the organization- reduce the level of bureaucracy within the organization so that orders can be processed faster and efficiently. Enforce accountability within the organization to reduce misappropriation of resources. Publish annual reports covering all aspects including programming and operations, particularly financial performance, program commissioning for independent producers, feedbacks from public, and how complaints are addressed.

STRATEGY 3: BETTER BUDGET ALLOCATION

NEW SOURCES OF REVENUE
Revenue generation can be from a process on the sale of petroleum products, cigarettes and similar other products. The collection is done by the central authorities or passed on to the city corporation or collected by the latter directly. Tax on those places of worship (religious institution) whose part is used as commercial purpose can be imposed. It is investigated that tax is not collected on those places of worship (religious institution) whose part is used as commercial purpose. Sumptuary taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products may also bring in a substantial sum of money for the city corporation. For example, a dated estimate shows that by 1990, such sumptuary taxes alone could arise about taka 1074 million of which the Corporation share could be about taka 215 million.

NEED FOR A CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT PROCESS

A three yearly reassessment cycle would be a better idea in place of the present five yearly assessments. This will help update assessment value more frequently. Periodic assessment, that is, assessment in between two reassessments should be carried out to make sure everything is in line.

RAISING AWARENESS ABOUT TAX ASSESSMENT

There is urgency of raising awareness among tax payer as to how tax amount is calculated and about the relationship between Corporations service delivery and tax payment. Apparently, only a miniscule minority knows how to tax is calculated. However, a substantial proportion of residents are aware of the relationship between better Corporation service delivery and tax receipts.

IMPROVING THE COMPUTERIZED DATABASE SYSTEM

A computerized Management Information System should be introduced and a central database at DCC headquarters should be established for networking with field offices. Computerized database system of all records related to taxes and revenue collection should be improved.

UPDATING THE TAX COLLECTION RECORDS

Property records and tax collection records should be kept up-to-date. Regular posting of tax collection information on tax registers allows for checking of payment status of a tax payer and make it possible to serve tax notice in time. This enables the tax payers to know their positions and provide information for rebates and penalties.

STRATEGY 4: PRIVATIZATION
Literature reviews find that in competitive industries with well-informed consumers, privatization consistently improves efficiency. The more competitive the industry, the greater the improvement in output, profitability, and efficiency. Although typically there are many costs associated with these efficiency gains, many economists argue that these can be dealt with by appropriate government support through redistribution and perhaps retraining. Privatizations in Russia and Latin America were accompanied by large-scale corruption during the sale of the state-owned companies. Those with political connections unfairly gained large wealth, which has discredited privatization in these regions. While media have reported widely the grand corruption that accompanied the sales, studies have argued that in addition to increased operating efficiency, daily petty corruption is, or would be, larger without privatization, and that corruption is more prevalent in non-privatized sectors.

LIST OF INTERVIEWEES

Brigadier General Md. Ahsanul Haque Miah

Former Chief Engineer, DNCC

Tayeb Kudratullah
Additional Chief Engineer, DNCC

Abdur Razzak
Superintendent Engineer, Traffic Department, DNCC

Capt. Bipan Kumar Saha

Bangladesh Navy Chief Waste Management Officer, DNCC

Dr. Tariq Bin Yousuf

Superintendent Engineer, Dept. of Environment, DNCC

REFERENCES
Chronological Development of DNCC. (n.d.). Retrieved August 19, 2013, from Dhaka North City Corporation: http://www.dncc.gov.bd/dncc-setup/chronological-development-of-dncc.html Dhaka North City Corporation. (n.d.). Retrieved August 19, 2013, from Dhaka North City Corporation: http://www.dncc.gov.bd/ Dhaka South City Corporation. (n.d.). Retrieved August 19, 2013, from Dhaka South City Corporation: http://www.dhakasouthcity.gov.bd/index.php Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (2006). Census Report 2001, Dhaka Zilla. Dhaka, Government of Bangladesh. Asian Development Bank (2008). Dhaka Water Supply and Sanitation. Manila, ADB. Najneen, F., Hoque, K.S., Mahmood, S.M.S., Rahman, S., Sharmin, M. (2010) Traffic congestion due to unplanned activities on road-A case study on Gollamari-Satkhira, outer by-pass (Phase- II) and GollamariBatiaghata Road. Bangladesh research publications Journal. 4(2), 185-197. Habid, K.M.N. (2000). Evaluation of Planning Options to Alleviate Traffic Congestion and Resulting Air Pollution in Dhaka City. Thesis paper. Al-Dakhllah, A. N.; Jadaan, K. S., (2005). Attitudes of Jordanian population towards road traffic noise. Int. J. Appl. Sci. Eng., 3 (2), 145-150. Anonymous, (1983). Noise pollution survey in Bombay, Scavenger, 3-9. Chakraborty, D.; Santra, S. C.; Mukherjee, A., (1997). Status of road traffic noise in Calcutta metropolis, India. J. Acoust. Soc. 101(2), 943-949. Omidvari, M. and Nouri, J. (2009) Effects of noise pollution on traffic policemen Int. J. environ. Res., 3(4):645652 Martin, M.A., Tarrero, M.A., Gonzalez, A. and Machimbarrena, M. (2006). Exposureeffect relationships between road traffic noise annoyance and noise cost valuations in Valladolid, Spain. J. Appl. Acoust., 67 (10), 945-958. Remi, A.J., Adegoke, A.A.I., Oyerinde, A.J. (2009) A Study of the Causes, Effects and ameliorative Measures of Road Traffic Congestion in Lagos Metropolis. European journal of Social Sciences 11(1), 119-128 Pramanik B, Sarker D.C, Sarker R.C, Assessment of Water Supply and Sanitation Facilities for Korail Slum in Dhaka City, IJCEE-IJENS, 11(5):115-128, 2011. Hossain, M. (2002). Dhaka battles dengue http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2193381.stm. crisis. Retrieved 15th March, 2008, from

Hossain, M. I. and Wagatsuma, Y., et al. (2004). Analysis of some Socio-demographic Factors Related to DF/DHF Outbreak in Dhaka City. Dengue Bulletin 24. Alam, H. (2005). Mosquito menace on as DCC fails. New Age. Dhaka. Independent Bangladesh (2008). Mosquito menace makes life difficult in capital