That 70% of the nation’s ADP is spent in urban areas is a clear indicator that the government needs to be more farsighted in its planning processes.
As things currently stand, it seems the national focus is on improving the few urban areas in Bangladesh and more or less disregarding the needs of rural areas.
On the one hand, the government is ignoring the needs of a large portion of the country and adding to the problem of inequality. And on the other hand, they are not ultimately doing existing urban areas any favours either.
We should support the country’s industrialisation, but the government must ensure that the industrialisation process is sustainable in the long run and does not create national-level negative externalities.
The country is currently too dependent on its urban areas. They are the only places where it is feasible to engage in industrial processes – but there just aren’t enough of them.
This means that those in rural areas are often stuck in agrarian jobs as they lack the means to move to areas where better paying industrial jobs are available. It also means the nation has long suffered from rural-urban migration, and our cities have not been able to keep up.
The simple solution is to change our budgetary spending habits. By focusing on decentralisation, we can create new, more efficient industrial areas, and take the pressure off of our ailing cities.
While this may not be politically convenient, it is time for our politicians to prove that they have the capacity to think in the long-term and are willing to lose a few political points in order to ensure the long-term interests of the nation.
