Speakers urged stronger coordination among government, local institutions and development partners to turn Bangladesh’s first National Urban Policy into practical improvements in planning, infrastructure and services.
Speakers at a national workshop in Bangladesh on Thursday called for coordinated action to implement the National Urban Policy 2025, saying its commitments should be translated into more liveable, inclusive and climate-resilient cities.
More than one-third of Bangladesh’s population lives in urban areas, while cities contribute nearly 65 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, according to the workshop’s organisers.
The call came at the National Dissemination Workshop on National Urban Policy 2025, held at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre (BCFCC) in Dhaka and jointly organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Bangladesh’s Local Government Division (LGD), with support from the UK government.
The workshop aimed to disseminate the National Urban Policy 2025 among stakeholders and gather recommendations for drafting its Implementation Action Plan.
The event brought together representatives from government ministries and agencies, local government institutions, development partners, academia, research institutions and the urban development community.
The government of Bangladesh approved the country’s first National Urban Policy 2025 as a national framework for more planned, inclusive, sustainable and climate-resilient urban development.
Md Mahmud Ali, director and additional secretary at Bangladesh’s Urban Development Directorate, said urban development could not be handled by one ministry alone and required coordination across sectors, with active participation from ministries, public and private institutions, development authorities, academia, professionals and urban residents themselves.
Md Samsul Islam, joint secretary at the Local Government Division, said the next priority was to move from policy to implementation.
“We want the National Urban Policy 2025 to go beyond being a policy document and become an effective tool for real change in urban planning, management, infrastructure development and service delivery,” he said.
Tanvir Mahmud, acting assistant resident representative of UNDP Bangladesh, said implementation at the local level would ultimately determine the policy’s impact.
“The real success of the National Urban Policy will depend on how effectively it is applied in our cities. National policy directions need to connect with local realities, local capacities and local priorities,” he said.
He added that government ownership should remain at the centre of implementation, while development partners could support the process through technical knowledge, evidence, innovation, capacity development and partnerships.
The National Urban Policy 2025 was developed under the leadership of the Local Government Division, with contributions from an inter-ministerial committee and relevant government institutions, including the Public Works Department, the Ministry of Planning and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Technical support was provided by UNDP with support from the UK government.
Earlier, Professor Dr Shakil Akther of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology presented the National Urban Policy 2025, followed by an open discussion on implementation.
Among others, Nathaniel Smith, team leader for climate and environment at the British High Commission, Amit Datta Roy, urban specialist at the Asian Development Bank, Dr Fawzia Farzana, professor at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Khulna University, and Yugesh Pradhanang of UNDP spoke at the workshop.
