The degradation of municipal services and governance has reached a stage where one can term Dhaka a “Dysfunctional City.” It has affected every ward, mahalla and community. The social, economical and psychological impact of such degradation has also affected everyone’s life. Today, on an emergency basis, the formidable task of rebuilding and renewing the city should be undertaken. This is the challenge of a lifetime. Thus, the mayor has to lead the effort for rebuilding, redesigning and reshaping Dhaka City to make it suitable for the citizens of the future.
There should be “A Plan for Today"; “A Plan for Tomorrow” and “A Blueprint for the Day After Tomorrow and beyond”.

• In a “dysfunctional city” as Dhaka is now, a short term goal should be to make Dhaka from a “Pull City” to a “Push City”. This can be easily achieved by:
  • Coordination and cooperation with government and local authorities to improve the physical and social infrastructure at various places around the city like Savar, Tongi, Joydevpur, Gazipur, Keranigonj, Fatullah and Siddhirgonj to make these suburban townships true activity centers.
  • The City Corporation should cooperate to create further “Activity Centers” around the city so that specialized industries like garments, textile, tanneries, plastics, packaging, motor workshops, light engineering etc. can grow not in but around the city and operate more profitably.
    Such action will reduce the “pull value” of the city center. At the same time, such action may meet the demand for a high rate of urbanization at this early stage of migration from the rural area to urban centres, on the one hand, and, on the other, it will help the general framework of decentralizing development or re-distributing the country’s assets and benefits for more equitable growth among the citizenry.
• Once a short-term goal agenda is in place, the “medium term and long term goal” should be taken up.
• The medium term goal should be to improve the absorbing capacity of Dhaka city for land, jobs and other city services to keep pace with the population growth.
• Long-term goals should include a comprehensive urban development plan based on the population of 2020 which should take care of:
  • The physical development of the urban area.
  • Rational land use for present and future needs of citizens.
  • Adequate physical infrastructural components.
  • Adequate social infrastructural components.
  • Social and economic services development.
  • A policy guideline as to the type of investment Dhaka City must attract and identifying locations for such investment. Local authorities of the “activity centers” around Dhaka city shall be consulted on these issues and become an integral part of the planning and implementation.
  • And finally, the networking through infrastructural components of all these newly created “activity centers” with the present “urban center.” Only such a development strategy will promote equity, efficiency and economic growth as well as public order, public safety and public health of the future expansion of the city.