Dhaka is a city defined by grinding traffic, occupied sidewalks, shrinking parks and fields, and water bodies choked by encroachment and waste. In February 2025, Mohammad Ejaz, the then-chairman of the River and Delta Research Centre (RDRC), was sworn in as administrator of the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC). He pledged to build a “fair Dhaka.” That promise led many to hope the capital’s urban governance was moving toward a new way of thinking. Some even described it as the beginning of “metamodern municipalism.” The gap between expectations and reality, however, has been substantial. Daily struggles continue, infrastructure remains disordered, and waste management shows no visible progress. Sidewalks and footbridges are not yet fit for uninterrupted use. The city corporation has failed to control dengue. Experts say Ejaz spent years researching canals, wetlands, and rivers and was outspoken about policy-level flaws. Nine months into his tenure, they say the frustration is clear: Dhaka has seen none of the fairness or even the minimal changes he had promised.
Mohammad Ejaz’s commitments after taking office closely mirrored widely discussed ideas of “metamodern urbanization,” which emphasize equitable distribution of resources, fair access to public transport, protection of nature and public space as collective assets, and direct citizen participation in decision-making. So far, experts say, that alignment exists only on paper. The “fair city” he promised has not translated into measurable progress. His agenda may resemble metamodern theory, but there is no sign of it being carried out in practice.
Metamodern municipalism is one of the most cited approaches for building a more citizen-centered city by moving beyond the limits of modern bureaucratic urban management. Its core idea is that urban development and public services should not be shaped solely by top-down administrative decisions. Instead, they should reflect organized citizen experience and input, public hearings, and a collective commitment to protecting public assets such as parks, canals, fields, and streets. Rather than relying on instructions flowing downward through bureaucracy, metamodern urbanism opens the way for policy built from the ground up. Under that approach, complex urban challenges — from waterlogging and mobility to waste management, access to parks and fields, and environmental risks — are addressed through residents’ lived experience.
Since the new administration took charge at the DNCC, no such shift has been visible. The long-running dysfunctions and unplanned services that residents have endured for years continue unabated.
Persistent digging at various points across Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has yet to be resolved, and residents say this kind of excavation has become a permanent part of the city’s so-called development culture, where the disruption lasts far longer than the work itself. In Mirpur, one of the capital’s most densely populated neighborhoods, DNCC’s Improvement of Different Damaged Roads and Infrastructure and Service Passage Development project, known as IDRISP, has created the most severe distress. Widespread excavation and piles of construction material now block major roads and footpaths near Boundary Road, Fruit Market, the cemetery road, and Somaj Kallyan Road adjacent to Mirpur 10. The area has sunk into a mix of dust, mud, and waterlogging.
Traffic has become even more unmanageable. The narrow lanes were already squeezed by hawkers and shops occupying the sidewalks. Crowds around the metro rail stations and illegal parking have made the rush-hour gridlock nearly unbearable. At this point, the development work itself has become the primary source of suffering for residents.
Since taking office, Mohammad Ejaz has repeatedly claimed that waterlogging has been reduced. The reality tells a different story. An outdated, unplanned drainage system, combined with drains and canals clogged by polythene and household waste, has left the city with almost no functioning water outflow. Even light rain can flood key stretches from Kazipara to Mirpur 10, leaving streets knee- or waist-deep in water.
The quality of public services compared to the population is another major challenge. Inner neighborhood roads are often riddled with potholes. Environmental and safety concerns are growing: too few dustbins lead to trash being dumped openly, creating foul smells, and poorly lit streets at night, combined with dense housing, leave residents vulnerable to thefts and muggings.
One of the central demands of the Fair Urban Charter is equal access to services for all residents. But the current administrator is working mainly for the city’s elite, according to Dr. Adil Mohammed Khan, president of the Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP) and executive director of the Institute for Planning and Development (IPD). Speaking to Bonik Barta, he said, “A city administrator has many limitations. He cannot fix everything. Even so, some basic tasks are entirely within the capacity of the administrator or any mayor. One of them is opening parks and fields that have long been under occupation. Instead, we are seeing that Shaheed Tajuddin Park and others are being leased out to elite groups just as before. No one can enter these fields except members of those societies. These parks are still not open to everyone. So he has failed at this most basic step toward a fair city? The commitments he made when he stood with the people are now missing after he became administrator. It’s embarrassing for us.”
Urban experts say opening fields and parks to the public would have produced the quickest positive change, since these spaces are essential for public health, social interaction, and safe community life. Although freeing parks and fields from occupation is one of the key promises of the DNCC’s Fair City agenda, there has been little real progress.
Amirul Rajiv, coordinator of the Bangladesh Tree Protection Movement, said the DNCC administrator has taken park and field occupation to “a new level.” He told Bonik Barta, “A library named after Al Mahmud was built on Shaheed Tajuddin Field to protect the occupation of the Gulshan Youth Club. The mayor inaugurated it. A library is a good thing, and the city has plenty of space for one. But why build it by taking over a field? Instead of evicting the club that occupied the park in violation of the High Court order, a library and a public tree museum have been built to legalize it and maintain the new occupation. We have seen that many parks and fields remain occupied or face new encroachment, but neither the administrator nor the government has opened them to the public. We believe this is a kind of syndicate. Those who surround Administrator Ejaz and work with him are all part of this syndicate. We see that DNCC is not hesitating to overlook irregularities to benefit various syndicates.”
A month after taking office, Mohammad Ejaz announced that any shopkeeper occupying a sidewalk would lose their trade license. Within a few months, the city corporation itself began occupying sidewalks. On a busy street in Gulshan, spaces were rented out for a daily fee of BDT 394. In another case, a road in Notun Bazar was taken over for the construction of a ward office. After media reports brought these issues to light, the DNCC administrator promised to take action.
One of the key elements of the DNCC administrator’s fair urban vision was a nature-centered urban life. The idea was to build a climate-resilient city where nature has a right to thrive and where urban infrastructure is designed to be environmentally friendly. But no visible steps have been taken to move the DNCC toward a nature-centered model. After taking office, Mohammad Ejaz announced plans to install air purifiers on open streets in Dhaka. Environmentalists immediately criticized the move, noting that such devices had already failed in cities like Delhi and elsewhere. The administrator claimed that a single air purifier would provide the same environmental benefit as 100 trees, which only intensified the backlash. He eventually abandoned the plan.
Dhaka still lacks nature-friendly infrastructure or planning, said Muhammad Monir Hossain, chairman of the Bangladesh River Foundation. Speaking to Bonik Barta, he said, “Despite so many movements, so many struggles, and even lives lost, Dhaka still has not become a nature-centered city. Our policymakers think of Dhaka only as a city for people, and they plan accordingly. There is no suitable habitat or movement corridor for birds, trees, or other species. Trees, canals, and water bodies are disappearing before our eyes, yet we are unable to take effective measures to protect them. The city’s natural systems are collapsing under encroachment and pollution.”
Before becoming administrator, Mohammad Ejaz was vocal about restoring canals and water bodies. In multiple media interviews, he repeated that cleaning canals alone is not a sustainable solution. He argued that boundaries must be legally established and that infrastructure must be built in a way that prevents further damage. But since taking office, he has not restored a single canal according to the model he promoted.
When asked about this, Mohammad Ejaz said, “Cleaning canals is still not a sustainable solution. That remains my position. We have taken a long-term plan for that. We have completed the work of marking canal boundaries. Now we will begin sustainable operations.” When it was pointed out that the boundaries had already been marked earlier under Mayor Atiqul Islam with the supervision of the Army, he replied, “Those tasks were done before. I completed them.”
Architect Iqbal Habib had hoped that as a river protection activist, Mohammad Ejaz would prioritize a Blue Network centered on Dhaka’s canals. Speaking to Bonik Barta, Habib shared that despite repeated discussions, no initiative has been taken. “You cannot transform a complex city like Dhaka with flashy words and slogans,” he said. “I spoke to Administrator Ejaz about the Blue Network for the canals. But he has taken no action. During Mayor Atiq’s tenure, we preserved the Kalshi Field on National Housing land, but after Ejaz took office, that field was lost. When I asked him about it, he said, somehow National Housing took it. This is the state of our administrators.”
Highlighting the city’s worsening public health, Iqbal Habib added, “With the current rate of dengue deaths, there would normally be major public outcry. But now, no one is even talking about dengue. Previous mayors would at least carry out visible crash programs, however symbolic, and take various measures. Now, we see none of that.”
Dengue cases in the capital have risen alarmingly. Residents complain that mosquito breeding site identification, larvicide treatment, and public awareness campaigns are not being conducted properly or consistently. Entomologist Dr. Kabirul Bashar told Bonik Barta, “If the DNCC administrator wanted, modern methods could be implemented to eliminate dengue. But we see the city still relying on outdated approaches. Dengue cannot be controlled with these old practices.”
Environmental activist Nayon Sarkar, who has long been vocal on Dhaka’s ecology and is also a resident of DNCC, said, “I had hoped for positive change when the new administrator was appointed. While some work has been done, I am largely disappointed. Waste management has not improved, sidewalks are still not fully navigable, and parks and fields remain monopolized; in fact, multiple individuals have been given control over them. Safe water provision for citizens has not been ensured. Air and noise pollution, as well as river and canal contamination, remain unresolved. Though some of these require time, DNCC has also completely failed in controlling dengue. Several footpaths and footbridges are still not usable. Billboard proliferation on road islands has increased. We’ve even seen trees cut during conventional development activities. Overall, my initial optimism has largely gone unmet.”
When asked about these issues, DNCC Administrator Mohammad Ejaz told Bonik Barta, “For years, all allocations in Dhaka went to elite neighborhoods. I have redirected resources to improve living conditions in comparatively underdeveloped wards. We have recovered 32 new fields. We are constructing separate pink toilets for women and providing a food court for the hijra community. I am working with women entrepreneurs. We have also begun implementing a master plan for Dhaka’s canals and water bodies. Regular eviction drives are being conducted against sidewalk and canal encroachment.”