State Minister for Housing and Public Works Ahammad Sohel Monzoor reaffirming Bangladesh’s commitment to inclusive, affordable, and climate‑resilient urban development at the United Nations is certainly a welcome message.
Indeed, this is no different to the pledge we have heard from the government and its vision of building cities that leave no one and no place behind.
However, that is precisely where we must pause, for we have heard the lofty rhetoric before, from every past administration over our country’s five and a half decades.
While our future will certainly depend on whether our cities can become livable, equitable, and resilient, speeches at global forums mean little unless they translate into visible change at home.
Our major cities continue struggling with unplanned expansion, unsafe housing, and weak infrastructure that collapses under pressure. While the minister said the right things in terms of the necessary changes required, they must be done, and not simply spoken about.
For that to happen, however, we will need to see political will, institutional discipline, and sustained investment -- core components of development where we have not been up to the mark, to say the least.
If the government is serious about inclusive urbanization, affordable housing must be more than a slogan; it must be accessible to low‑income families who currently live one disaster away from homelessness.
Climate resilience must also mean drainage systems that work, flood‑proof infrastructure, and city planning that anticipates extreme weather rather than reacts to it, as we are unfortunately witnessing across the country with the recent devastation from this year’s monsoon floods.
Urbanization can and must be a driver of our growth and inclusion, but this is only possible if the government delivers on what it has pledged. This is no longer the time for empty commitments but rather the time for implementation.
