The State of Cities: solid waste management of Dhaka city – towards decentralised governance
BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University has launched its annual flagship research report State of Cities (SoC) 2015 titled ‘Solid Waste Management in Dhaka City--Towards Decentralised Governance’. The study has captured constraints in addressing the city's solid waste problem. The City Corporations' budget, for instance, is inadequate. There is a coordination failure between private and public agencies. Across wards there are disparities in terms of infrastructural capacity, tax realisation, timing of waste collection, payment on door-to-door services, among others. Unless cities do posses modern recycling facilities, it is hard to solve the garbage problem. The existing landfill sites lack sanitary features and might create new problems in a bid to solve old ones. The report recommends that decentralization is one of the ways to tackle the localized problem of solid waste management, particularly addressing the heterogeneity that exists at the grassroots level. It is suggested to take the advantages of modern technology in beefing up monitoring and enforcement, particularly to address coordination failure among agencies.