Bangladesh : the path to middle-income status from an urban perspective
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Bangladesh : the path to middle-income status from an urban perspective
(Directions in development, . Countries and regions)
World Bank, c2013
Available at 14 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Bangladesh seeks to attain middle-income status by 2021, the 50th anniversary of its independence. To accelerate growth enough to do so, Bangladesh needs to build a competitive urban space that is innovative, connected and liveable. Bangladesh's urban areas have to take proactive measures to improve and sustain all three drivers of competitiveness - innovation, connectivity and liveability.
The results of a survey of 1,000 garment firms - conducted to provide a lens through which to investigate urban competitiveness - reveal that Dhaka City is the most productive location for garment firms in Bangladesh. It is falling behind in accessibility and liveability because of high congestion and severe constraints in land and housing markets, however. And it needs to gain a competitive edge in higher value-added products and services. Peri-urban areas of Dhaka are emerging as competitive manufacturing centres, but they suffer from Dhaka City's congestion and have less access to infrastructure. Chittagong City has failed to capitalise on its comparative advantage as the country's largest seaport city. Strategically located export processing zones are higher-productivity, higher-cost locations that are partially shielded from the inefficiencies of urban areas. Medium-size and small cities are uncompetitive 'distant places', which need to foster local entrepreneurship to find their comparative advantages. Strengthening competitiveness across Bangladesh's cities calls for coordinated and multipronged interventions encompassing infrastructure, institutions, and incentives to transform Dhaka into a globally competitive metropolitan region, leverage Chittagong City's natural comparative advantage as a port city, promote strategically located export processing zones to foster industry competitiveness and spearhead urban reforms, and create the enabling environment for local economic development in medium-size and small cities.
by "Nielsen BookData"