The people of Narayaganj City Corporation (NCC) will go for voting tomorrow (Sunday) to elect their mayor and councilors, amid a lot of expectations that many of their long-lingering problems will be addressed by the would-be elected authorities.
Also in areas under other city corporations throughout the country, the expectations of their dwellers from their local government bodies have, likewise, been always high, in view of their problems of wide-ranging nature having been deteriorating in most areas that concern their everyday life.
But the performance of the authorities of city corporations in all places within their jurisdiction continue to be far below what the ordinary citizens do expect, rightly or wrongly, from them, most observers of the state of urban governance system, nay that of the local government bodies said.
No matter whoever wins the Mayoral election in Narayanganj, the situation is likely to be no different from what is now being witnessed all over the country, notwithstanding some differences in leadership qualities and competence existing undeniably between and among the electoral contestant, such observers noted.
Experts in relevant fields and also the existing mayors of most city corporations said the city corporations and municipalities have very little power and also limited organisational capabilities to meet the citizens' expectations.
There has not been any real devolution of power to the city corporation bodies over the past few decades, despite tall promises by all successive governments about delegating more effective powers -- both de jure and de facto -- to such local government (LG) bodies, relevant sources noted.
All such quarters stressed the need for empowering the LG bodies and strengthening coordination among the service-providing agencies for ensuring proper civic and other amenities.
In Narayanganj, over 430,000 people are expected to cast their votes on Sunday to elect the city 'father' and ward commissioners of the country's seventh city corporation, through 163 poll centres, containing over 1,500 booths, set up by the Election Commission (EC) in the 27 NCC wards.
On their part, the electorate there in NCC demanded particularly of the mayoral contestants during the election campaigns to do the needful in the common interests of the dwellers of the city for resolving the long-persisting problems relating to provision of electricity, gas, piped water, updating the poor communication infrastructure that seriously hurt businesses and domestic works, saving the water-bodies including the rivers from pollution and encroachment and ensuring law and order.
The dwellers of Narayanganj do particularly like to see their would-be elected mayor to help construct a bridge over the Shitalakhhya river to connect Narayanganj with Bondar, after winning the electoral race.
All the three major candidates for the NCC mayoral office made 'robust' promises to work for ensuring supplies of utilities, strengthening healthcare and educational facilities, upgrading roads, improving law and order and providing better drainage facilities in the city which is also the home of thousands of small and medium industrial units.
But the critical issue is whether the elected mayor of this city, or for that, matter any other city in the country, do have the power, authority and fund to deliver what the citizens in their respective areas expect of them.
"Civic amenities can not be properly ensured under the existing power, authority and structure of the City Corporation as it does not have enough administrative and lawful power and authority and finance or both -- to do so," Mayor of Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) Sadek Hossain Khoka said.
He said the city corporation should be empowered properly to deal with the growing demands for civic facilities by the dwellers therein.
"There is no magic stick in the hands of any mayor. The mayor has to depend on other service-providing agencies that are under different ministries and authorities to improve traffic management, maintain law and order, ensure adequate supplies of water, gas and electricity," he said.
The Mayor of Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) sought for ways and means to maintain coordination with the other service providers. But he did not succeed much "without a fruitful coordination, most of the civic amenities will remain unmet," said a CCC source
The urban planner Professor Jamilur Reza Chowdhury said the city corporation should be given enough power for all relevant matters that concern the people in their localities. "The government should give its full concentration on efforts to ensure good governance at all levels," he said.
He, however, note the city corporation authorities are also often found to misuse funds given by the government or other development partners. "The existing funds should be utilised properly. Otherwise, nothing can be changed," he added.
"City Corporations often find themselves in a difficult situation to strike a balance between their limited resources and people's expectations," another urban planner said, adding that city corporation authorities will have to maximize the use of their resources.
Former advisor of the caretaker government Mr. Akbar Ali Khan said the country's local government institutions are very weak in Bangladesh compared to most other developed and also many developing countries. "The structure of LG bodies should be properly and effectively strengthened", he added.
Another analyst of the LG system in Bangladesh said, on condition of anonymity, that the country's existing city corporations "are mostly dependent, in areas of funding, on holding tax and a limited other sources of revenues, bodies the grants provided by the central government for carrying out their operational activities."
Such funds, even if used properly without involving irregularities and corrupt practices that are the common feature of most government activities in the country in an uninterrupted sequence since long, can not meet even a modicum of demands of the people in the respective areas under different LG bodies under the present-day conditions, he added.
While underlining the need for enforcing a system of strict monitoring of the uses of funds and for promoting transparency and accountability in an effective manner for all LG bodies including the city corporations, he suggested that avenues for floatation of bonds for raising funds for urban and other local level development activities should also be explored under a system of effective administration decentralization and development devolution.
Source: thedailystar.net
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