The development of the urban government system in Bangladesh : Does coordination exist?

This paper is intended to shed some light on the development of urban governance in Bangladesh by highlighting the issue of coordination. It addresses the question of whether there is any mechanism through which urban government bodies can ensure coordination on matters of dispute between different government organisations. The paper is based on a review of secondary literature as well as on primary data drawn from a case study on a city corporation. The available data substantiates the view that the process of urban service delivery in Bangladesh has lacked proper coordination mechanisms from its very inception. Successive governments since the independence of Bangladesh have experimented with the structural design of urban government bodies without considering the need for a proper mechanism to ensure sound coordination among actors involved in implementing the various policies of these bodies. Although an attempt was made by the then Awami League1 (1996-2001) government to establish a high-powered coordination committee under the chairmanship of the minister in charge of the Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (LGRD&C) Ministry for each city corporation, in order to ensure better management of services and to settle disputes between various government agencies, the initiative was perverted upon the change of state power in 2001. As a result, these bodies continue to suffer from problems of coordination.