Post by Emperor AAdmin on Aug 13, 2005 18:35:41 GMT -5
FOREIGN DESK | July 19, 2005, Tuesday
Dhaka Journal; A Lot of Cash in a Very Poor Nation: Welcome to the Mall
By DAVID ROHDE; Julfikar Ali Manik contributed reporting for this article. (NYT)
DHAKA, Bangladesh - Based on their surroundings, Mushfique Rahman and his two friends could have been standing in the Mall of America, the Minnesota retail behemoth that is the largest shopping center in the United States.
Teenagers in blue jeans bought tickets to an American-style multiplex movie theater. Parents guided children through an indoor amusement park with a merry-go-round. Wealthy executives tried out the swimming pool and high tech fitness center in the new Gold's Gym Dhaka.
In truth, the three young men were standing in something they consider far better: Bashundara City, a gargantuan new $80 million shopping complex in downtown Dhaka that bills itself as the Mall of South Asia. According to the Bangladeshi developers, the eight-story, 2,000-store retail colossus is South Asia's largest shopping mall.
"The whole world is getting Westernized," said Mr. Rahman. "Why should we be left behind?"
The mall, which took about six years to build, is not the only sign of prosperity and Western-style consumerism emerging in Bangladesh, a nation better known for epic poverty than epic consumption. Over the last several years, new BMW, Land Rover and Volvo dealerships have opened in Dhaka, the impossibly crowded capital of about 10 million people. A handful of American-style amusement parks and upscale restaurants have also appeared.
Since opening its doors last November, Bashundara City has drawn huge crowds and emerged as a symbol of progress among Bangladeshis, particularly upper-class ones who have profited handsomely from a quantum leap in garment exports to the United States and Europe.
"For people in Dhaka, life is getting better; shopping, restaurants," said a Western diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be perceived as passing judgment. "A lot of people got rich off textiles."
But Bangladeshi economists say the arrival of a megamall and BMW dealership reflects something else: a widening gap between rich and poor in Bangladesh, which remains one of the world's poorest and most densely populated nations.
Mustafizur Rahman, research director at the Center for Policy Dialogue, a Dhaka-based research institute, estimated that only 5 to 6 percent of the people are wealthy enough to shop regularly in the capital's new high-end stores.
"The positive things you have seen in Dhaka City also convey unequal income distribution," he said. "Not all people are able to access what you see."
Over all, Mr. Rahman added, Bangladesh is experiencing its brightest economic performance in decades. Led by the surge in clothing exports, the country's economy has grown by roughly 5 percent a year for more than a decade, and poverty has been reduced somewhat. It has also slashed its infant mortality rate by 50 percent in 10 years, the sharpest decline of any country in the world.
Yet staggering problems remain. Despite more than $30 billion in foreign aid since independence from Pakistan in 1971, nearly half of the 140 million Bangladeshis still live below the poverty line, according to a United States government estimate. Two-thirds of its workforce is still employed in agriculture.
Only 20 percent of the population has access to electricity, and potentially vast natural gas reserves remain unexplored.
The Western diplomat who discussed the mall said Bangladesh must cut its population growth rate even more, and increase its economic growth rate beyond 5 percent. "The population figures are good, but we're still looking at 250 million people in 2050 in a country a bit smaller than Iowa," he said. "Five and a half percent isn't going to do it."
Whatever the country's prospects, the new megamall is clearly a hit. Managers estimate that 15,000 to 20,000 people enter on busy week days, and 30,000 to 40,000 on weekends and holidays.
When visitors pass through the mall's clear glass front doors, neatly dressed security guards in black berets and neckties politely search them.
Inside, the most impressive feature is an eight-story atrium topped with a 180-foot-wide, clear glass dome. Four glass-enclosed elevators ferry passengers up and down, offering dramatic views of the entrance hall below. A large-screen television in the lobby plays Bangladeshi television advertisements, including one that depicts a husband and wife fighting over the remote control of their new color television.
Shoppers raved about the mall, proudly declaring it world class. Rich and poor alike appeared to revel in its open spaces, with several people saying they came to see the mall itself, not to buy goods, which they called pricey. The mall, in short, has become both a tourist and a retail destination.
Abdus Samad, a frail, 70-year-old guided by his young nephew, said he came to see the mall while visiting relatives in Dhaka. Staring at the atrium's vast glass dome, Mr. Samad, an illiterate farmer, said the mall was proof that Bangladesh had improved in his lifetime. "Of course something has developed here," he said, his eyes twinkling behind a pair of thick, black-framed eyeglasses. "Otherwise, how can this type of market take place?"
Just who is responsible for the mall, as well as Bangladesh's improving economic fortunes, is a matter of debate. The country's long-feuding political rivals, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and the opposition leader, Sheikh Hasina, insist their own policies are ushering in an economic renaissance.
But visitors to the mall unanimously declared Bangladesh's private sector the country's only hope. They said that if the country's government, which has long been criticized for infighting, corruption and inefficiency, had been involved, the shopping complex would never have been built.
Bangladeshis also dismissed questions about whether the mall signified Western consumerism encroaching on Bangladeshi culture. Capitalizing on public dissatisfaction with the country's two main political parties, a small group of hard-line Islamist politicians have been urging the people of the predominantly Muslim country to move closer to Islam.
Abdul Salaam, a 45-year-old Education Ministry office worker who was touring the mall with his wife, dismissed those arguments. Mr. Salaam's wife wore a head scarf, something unusual in religiously moderate Bangladesh, but he praised the mall, saying it was convenient and offered a variety of goods "under the same roof."
"Bangladesh should go forward," he said. "There is no rule that what they have in the West we can't build here."
Julfikar Ali Manik contributed reporting for this article.
Dhaka Journal; A Lot of Cash in a Very Poor Nation: Welcome to the Mall
By DAVID ROHDE; Julfikar Ali Manik contributed reporting for this article. (NYT)
DHAKA, Bangladesh - Based on their surroundings, Mushfique Rahman and his two friends could have been standing in the Mall of America, the Minnesota retail behemoth that is the largest shopping center in the United States.
Teenagers in blue jeans bought tickets to an American-style multiplex movie theater. Parents guided children through an indoor amusement park with a merry-go-round. Wealthy executives tried out the swimming pool and high tech fitness center in the new Gold's Gym Dhaka.
In truth, the three young men were standing in something they consider far better: Bashundara City, a gargantuan new $80 million shopping complex in downtown Dhaka that bills itself as the Mall of South Asia. According to the Bangladeshi developers, the eight-story, 2,000-store retail colossus is South Asia's largest shopping mall.
"The whole world is getting Westernized," said Mr. Rahman. "Why should we be left behind?"
The mall, which took about six years to build, is not the only sign of prosperity and Western-style consumerism emerging in Bangladesh, a nation better known for epic poverty than epic consumption. Over the last several years, new BMW, Land Rover and Volvo dealerships have opened in Dhaka, the impossibly crowded capital of about 10 million people. A handful of American-style amusement parks and upscale restaurants have also appeared.
Since opening its doors last November, Bashundara City has drawn huge crowds and emerged as a symbol of progress among Bangladeshis, particularly upper-class ones who have profited handsomely from a quantum leap in garment exports to the United States and Europe.
"For people in Dhaka, life is getting better; shopping, restaurants," said a Western diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be perceived as passing judgment. "A lot of people got rich off textiles."
But Bangladeshi economists say the arrival of a megamall and BMW dealership reflects something else: a widening gap between rich and poor in Bangladesh, which remains one of the world's poorest and most densely populated nations.
Mustafizur Rahman, research director at the Center for Policy Dialogue, a Dhaka-based research institute, estimated that only 5 to 6 percent of the people are wealthy enough to shop regularly in the capital's new high-end stores.
"The positive things you have seen in Dhaka City also convey unequal income distribution," he said. "Not all people are able to access what you see."
Over all, Mr. Rahman added, Bangladesh is experiencing its brightest economic performance in decades. Led by the surge in clothing exports, the country's economy has grown by roughly 5 percent a year for more than a decade, and poverty has been reduced somewhat. It has also slashed its infant mortality rate by 50 percent in 10 years, the sharpest decline of any country in the world.
Yet staggering problems remain. Despite more than $30 billion in foreign aid since independence from Pakistan in 1971, nearly half of the 140 million Bangladeshis still live below the poverty line, according to a United States government estimate. Two-thirds of its workforce is still employed in agriculture.
Only 20 percent of the population has access to electricity, and potentially vast natural gas reserves remain unexplored.
The Western diplomat who discussed the mall said Bangladesh must cut its population growth rate even more, and increase its economic growth rate beyond 5 percent. "The population figures are good, but we're still looking at 250 million people in 2050 in a country a bit smaller than Iowa," he said. "Five and a half percent isn't going to do it."
Whatever the country's prospects, the new megamall is clearly a hit. Managers estimate that 15,000 to 20,000 people enter on busy week days, and 30,000 to 40,000 on weekends and holidays.
When visitors pass through the mall's clear glass front doors, neatly dressed security guards in black berets and neckties politely search them.
Inside, the most impressive feature is an eight-story atrium topped with a 180-foot-wide, clear glass dome. Four glass-enclosed elevators ferry passengers up and down, offering dramatic views of the entrance hall below. A large-screen television in the lobby plays Bangladeshi television advertisements, including one that depicts a husband and wife fighting over the remote control of their new color television.
Shoppers raved about the mall, proudly declaring it world class. Rich and poor alike appeared to revel in its open spaces, with several people saying they came to see the mall itself, not to buy goods, which they called pricey. The mall, in short, has become both a tourist and a retail destination.
Abdus Samad, a frail, 70-year-old guided by his young nephew, said he came to see the mall while visiting relatives in Dhaka. Staring at the atrium's vast glass dome, Mr. Samad, an illiterate farmer, said the mall was proof that Bangladesh had improved in his lifetime. "Of course something has developed here," he said, his eyes twinkling behind a pair of thick, black-framed eyeglasses. "Otherwise, how can this type of market take place?"
Just who is responsible for the mall, as well as Bangladesh's improving economic fortunes, is a matter of debate. The country's long-feuding political rivals, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and the opposition leader, Sheikh Hasina, insist their own policies are ushering in an economic renaissance.
But visitors to the mall unanimously declared Bangladesh's private sector the country's only hope. They said that if the country's government, which has long been criticized for infighting, corruption and inefficiency, had been involved, the shopping complex would never have been built.
Bangladeshis also dismissed questions about whether the mall signified Western consumerism encroaching on Bangladeshi culture. Capitalizing on public dissatisfaction with the country's two main political parties, a small group of hard-line Islamist politicians have been urging the people of the predominantly Muslim country to move closer to Islam.
Abdul Salaam, a 45-year-old Education Ministry office worker who was touring the mall with his wife, dismissed those arguments. Mr. Salaam's wife wore a head scarf, something unusual in religiously moderate Bangladesh, but he praised the mall, saying it was convenient and offered a variety of goods "under the same roof."
"Bangladesh should go forward," he said. "There is no rule that what they have in the West we can't build here."
Julfikar Ali Manik contributed reporting for this article.