Dhaka: Improving Living Conditions for the Urban Poor Bangladesh Development Series Paper No. 17 The World Bank Office, Dhaka June 2007 www.worldbank.org.bd/bds Document of the World Bank The World Bank World Bank Office Dhaka Plot- E-32, Agargaon, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh Tel: 880-2-8159001-28 Fax: 880-2-8159029-30 www.worldbank.org.bd The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington DC 20433, USA Tel: 1-202-473-1000 Fax: 1-207-477-6391 www.worldbank.org All Bangladesh Development Series (BDS) publications are downloadable at: www.worldbank.org.bd/bds Standard Disclaimer: This volume is a product of the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of the World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Copyright Statement: The material in this publication is copyrighted. The World Bank encourages dissemination of its work and will normally grant permission to reproduce portion of the work promptly. Design: Cover designed and published by Creative Idea Illustration Credits: Front cover (from left): Michael Foley, Erwin De Nys Back cover (from left): Andrew Biraj, Erwin De Nys CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS Taka (Tk.) US$1 = Tk. 69.03 (June, 2007) GOVERNMENT'S FISCAL YEAR July 1 – June 30 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ACHR Asian Coalition of Housing Rights MFA Multi-Fibre Arrangement ADB Asian Development Bank MLGRD Ministry of Local Government and BBS Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics Rural Development BELA Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers NGO Non Government Organization Association NUK Nari Uddyog Kendra BLAST Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust PPP Purchasing Power Parity BRAC Bangladesh Rural Advancement OECD Organization of Economic Committee Cooperation and Development CIRDAP Centre on Integrated Rural Development RAB Rapid Action Batallion for Asia and the Pacific RAJUK Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha COHRE Centre for Housing Rights and Evictions RCA Revealed Comparative Advantage CPTED Crime Prevention Through Environmental RMG Readymade Garment Design SMA Statistical Metropolitan Area CUP Coalition for the Urban Poor TK Taka CUS Centre for Urban Studies UNDP United Nations Development DCC Dhaka City Corporation Programme DESA Dhaka Electricity Supply Authority UNFPA United Nations Family Planning DFID Department for International Development Programme DMA Dhaka Metropolitan Area UNICEF United Children’s Fund DMDP Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan USSP Union for the Scientific Study of DWASA Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority Population EBA Everything But Arms WASA Water and Sewage Authority EU European Union WHO World Health Organization FFE Food for Education WTO World Trade Orgnanization GDP Gross Domestic Product GTAP Global Trade Analysis Project HIES Household Income and Expenditure Survey IDB Inter-American Development Bank IFPRI International Food Policy Research Institute ILO International Labor Organization LAC Latin America and Caribbean LFS Labor Force Survey LGED Local Government Engineering Department Vice President: Praful Patel, SARVP Country Director: Xian Zhu, SACBD Sector Director: Constance Bernard, SASSD Sector Manager: Sonia Hammam, SASSD Task Leader: Judy L. Baker, FEU iii iv Table of Contents Preface and Acknowledgements ..................................................................................... ix Foreword........................................................................................................................... xi Executive Summary....................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1: A Poverty Profile for Dhaka........................................................................ 1 I. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 II. Poverty and Inequality in Dhaka................................................................................ 2 III. Characteristics of the poor ........................................................................................ 6 IV. Perceptions of Poverty.............................................................................................. 9 Chapter 2: Employment and Poverty .......................................................................... 13 I. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 13 II. General Characteristics of the Labor Force in Dhaka .............................................. 13 III. Employment and the Poor....................................................................................... 14 A. General characteristics ....................................................................................... 15 B. Employment Sector and Occupation ................................................................... 16 C. Gender, employment and poverty........................................................................ 19 D. Participation of children in the labor force ........................................................ 20 E. Working hours and income.................................................................................. 21 F. Un- and underemployment .................................................................................. 21 IV. Prospects for Employment Generation and Policy Recommendations .................. 22 A. Trends and prospects on the supply side of Dhaka’s labor market .................... 22 B. Trends and prospects on the demand side of Dhaka’s labor market .................. 27 V. Improving income earning opportunities for the poor ............................................ 31 Chapter 3: Shelter for the Poor .................................................................................... 33 I. Background............................................................................................................... 33 A. A Fast Growing, Poor Megacity ......................................................................... 33 B. High Land Prices Have Excluded the Poor from Ownership of Land and Housing................................................................................................................ 35 II. Main policy constraints ............................................................................................ 37 A. Unresponsiveness to price signals for a large portion of the land in the city..... 37 B. An enabling housing policy without enablers ..................................................... 39 C. Failures of coordination and services at the local level ..................................... 44 D. The limited role of NGOs in housing for urban poor ......................................... 45 III. Improving Shelter Conditions for the Urban Poor.................................................. 46 Chapter 4: The Challenges of Service Delivery for Dhaka’s Poor............................ 51 I. The Current Situation ............................................................................................... 51 A. Basic Services...................................................................................................... 52 B. Service Providers................................................................................................. 53 v II. Constraints to Service Delivery................................................................................ 56 A. Lack of government policy.................................................................................... 56 B. Evictions of slum residents .................................................................................. 56 C. The Pervasive Role of Mastaans ......................................................................... 57 D. Other constraints................................................................................................. 57 III. Improving Service Delivery for the Urban Poor..................................................... 59 Chapter 5: Crime and Violence and the Urban Poor................................................. 62 I. Background and Introduction .................................................................................... 63 II. Manifestations of crime and violence affecting the urban poor in Dhaka ............... 64 A. Main Survey Findings.......................................................................................... 65 III. Relationship between crime and violence and social, institutional, and legal issues ....................................................................................................................................... 72 IV. Addressing Crime and Violence............................................................................. 74 Specific recommendations for crime and violence prevention in Dhaka ................. 75 References........................................................................................................................ 83 List of Boxes Box 2.1: The “missing” women in the poor income groups............................................ 18 Box 2.2: Post MFA and entry of China in the WTO, their impact on the poor in Dhaka? A summary of the literature .............................................................................................. 29 Box 3.1: Slum Improvement/Upgrading Programs of the National Government ............ 43 Box 3.2: NGO programs targeted to poor renters............................................................. 46 Box 4.1: Making Things Work in Health Care................................................................ 55 Box 4. 2: Case Study from CUS: Slum Eviction in Agargaon ....................................... 57 Box 4.3: Making Things Work in Water and Sanitation ................................................. 58 Box 4.4: Case Study: Lessons Learned from DSK’s Water Delivery Project in Conjunction with DWASA............................................................................................... 61 Box 5.1: Community Police Stations in Mumbai’s slum. ................................................ 80 Box 5.2: Crime and Violence Prevention Components in Bank-financed Integrated Slum Upgrading Operations:...................................................................................................... 81 List of Tables Table 1.1: Slums covered in the Aparajeyo Survey............................................................ 2 Table 1.2: Characteristics of the poor in Dhaka. ............................................................... 6 Table 1.3: Distance to Public Services for Slum Dwellers (in meters) ............................. 8 Table 1.4: Percentage of total (monthly) household expenditure in Tak as for Dhaka SMA.................................................................................................. 9 Table 2.1: Employment Characteristics of Households by Income Group ...................... 16 vi Table 2.2: Sectoral distribution of the male workers in Dhaka SMA by income group (in percentage)........................................................................................................................ 17 Table 2.3: Main Jobs of Male Workers in Dhaka............................................................. 17 Table 2.4: Sectoral distribution of female workers in Dhaka SMA by income group (in percentage)........................................................................................................................ 18 Table 2.5: Main Jobs of Poor Female Workers ................................................................ 19 Table 2.6: Hours and wages of the poor, by occupation and gender ................................ 21 Table 2.7: Unemployment and Underemployment in Dhaka SMA by Income Group .... 22 Table 2.8: Comparison of Average Monthly Wages between Dhaka and Rural Areas in 2000 (in Taka)................................................................................................................... 24 Table 3.1: Urban Population and Poor Population in DCC and DMDP........................... 34 Table 3.2: Housing Tenure of the Urban Poor, 1995........................................................ 36 Table 3.3: Relative importance of Housing Delivery Sub-Sectors in Dhaka ................... 39 Table 4.1: Administrative structure of service delivery in Dhaka .................................... 54 Table 5.1: Percentage of Respondents affected by crime and violence........................... 66 Table 5.2: Nature of Crime and Violence Occur in the Slums (Multi-response) ............. 66 Table 5.3: The Severity of Crime and Violence (Multi-response). .................................. 67 Table 5.4: Respondent’s recommendation regarding combating existing Crime and Violence (Multi-response). ............................................................................................... 71 Table 5.5: Linking urban spatial and non-spatial interventions: The KfW/ City of Cape Town Khayelitsha Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading Project .................... 79 List of Figures Figure 1.1: Slum Formation in the DCC Area, 2005......................................................... 4 Figure 1.2: Slum Ownership, Dhaka, 2005........................................................................ 5 Figure 1.3: Image of flood slums in flood zone, Dhaka .................................................... 5 Figure 1.4: Access to Public Toilets .................................................................................. 7 Figure 3.1: Map of Land Use in Dhaka City, 1984 .......................................................... 40 Figure 3.2: Map of Land Use in Dhaka City, 2004 .......................................................... 41 List of Annexes Annex 1: Poverty Profile Background Tables and Figures ............................................. 97 Annex 2: Supplemental Data on Labor........................................................................... 101 Annex 3: Supplemental Information on Land and Housing ........................................... 125 Annex 4: Supplemental Data on Crime and Violence ................................................... 133 vii viii PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report was prepared by a team led by Judy L. Baker (World Bank, FEU). Team members who participated in the field work and contributed background papers commissioned for this report include: Nazrul Islam, (University of Dhaka and Centre for Urban Studies), “Dhaka Land and Housing”, Somik Lall, (World Bank, DECRG), “A Poverty Profile for Dhaka”; David Le Blanc and Robert Buckley (World Bank, TUDUR), “Dhaka Urban Poverty: Land and Housing Issues”; Bernice Van Bronkhurst (World Bank, LAC Region), “Crime and Violence”, Sabina Faiz Rashid (BRAC University) and Yasmeen Hossain (London School of Economics), “Constraints to Delivering Services to the Urban Poor Living in Slums in Dhaka, Bangladesh”, Claire Salmon, (University of Savoie, France), “The Situation of the Poor in the Working Population of Dhaka.” This study also drew on independent work carried out by Rashid and Mannan, 2004, “The Heterogeneity of the Urban Poor: Political-Economy and Social Conditions in Urban Slums” and Aparajeyo, 2002 “Slum Observatory Survey.” Surveys that were commissioned for this study were carried out by Aparajeyo (Crime and Violence), and the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), (Spatial Poverty Mapping of the Dhaka Metropolitan Area). Data analysis was done by Asha Sundaram and Jonny Anderson. The Coalition for the Urban Poor (CUP) assisted greatly in organizing meetings with its members and with local communities. The work was carried out under the guidance of Sonia Hammam, Sector Manager, (SASEI) and Christine I. Wallich, then Country Director for Bangladesh. The team benefited from comments from the two peer reviewers, Christine Kessides and Hassan Zaman, as well as from Patricia Annez, Enrique Pantoja, Jaehyang So, Catherine Tovey, and Nilufar Ahmed. The report was produced by Erwin De Nys and Aniqah J. Khan. The report also benefited greatly from the inputs received from participants at the Consultation Workshop which discussed the findings of the report extensively on February 14 and 16, 2006. ix x