Performance Evaluation of Different Municipal Services in a Secondary Town of Bangladesh

Performance Evaluation of Different Municipal Services in a Secondary Town of Bangladesh

Ahmed Jami Safayet Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of CECM

Georgia Southern University, USA

Abstracts Municipal services are the basic services where the residents of a town are given those by paying taxes to the municipal authority. In this study the performance of municipal service facilities of Pabna municipality can be found out. Out of many service facilities the study considers only some of them for gaining the purpose i.e. educational facilities, health facilities, electricity, water supply, market facilities, recreational facilities and solid waste management systems. The study is done by using two methods like User Satisfaction Index (USI) and Community Effect Index (CEI). After doing analysis of the collected data the study finds that the existing condition of recreational facilities in the study area is falling into bad condition where other facilities are in fairly good situation. On the basis of the analysis the study has focused on enhancing in accessibility of municipal service facilities to the citizens of Pabna municipality that is essential for sustainable urban life.

Keywords Municipal services; performance evaluation; USI; CEI; Service accessibility

1. INTRODUCTION

   In their capacity as the third and lowest sphere of government and the one that functions closest to local communities, municipal governments have often been described as comprising the sphere of government that is tasked mainly with the development and provision of services to communities[1]. Again, a number of researches have proven that the quality and sustainability of services facilities provided by municipalities depend on various factors and peoples participation is more highlighted among them [2]&[3].So municipal services are very essential for any areas development which indicates the standard of living condition of an areas people. However the study is done in ward 08 of Pabna municipality that is known as one of the secondary town of Bangladesh to understand and analyze the existing condition of different municipal service facilities. The study area is situated within 23°53' and 24°05' north latitudes and in between 89°09' and 89°25' east longitudes [4]. The specific objective of the study is finding out the conception about the existing physical, social and economic infrastructural situation of ward 08 in Pabna municipality along with measurement of satisfaction level about the municipal services to the urban dwellers. Objective of this study is given below,

   MD Sazzad Hossain

   UG student,

   Department of Urban & Regional Planning Pabna University of Science & Technology, Bangladesh

   1. To evaluate the quality of municipal services offered by Pabna municipality from the user perspective.

   2. To illustrate the satisfaction level of municipal services towards the people of the study area.

2. METHODOLOGY

   The measurement of the performance of municipalities in providing services to citizens is a part of the quality assurance cycle. Performance measurement involves two main dimensions: 1) Internal measurement conducted by municipal directorates and municipalities 2) External measurement, based on the data that are generated and reported by the respective municipalities [5].However the study is conducted by external measurement where data collection procedure has completely followed the participatory approach. There was no conventional data collection except some secondary data about the study area. Rather the information given by the participants have been taken as final and selected data by using of different participatory tools i.e. physical survey, focus Group Discussion, household survey etc. Adding with that some distinctive methods are also be used for calculation of satisfaction level of the people i.e. User satisfaction Index (USI), Community effect index (CEI). Finally the study tries to give some suggestions based on the satisfaction level of the people of study area through level of services calculation.

3. ANALYSIS OF THE STUDY

   In this segment the study tries to illustrate the existing municipal service distribution situation at ward 08 of Pabna municipality. Moreover the study selects seven municipal services which are working to be analyzed with their performance evaluation in the study area. The selected services are described shortly on the following table.

   Table 3.1-Existing municipal services of study area

   M. Services	Current condition of the services	Quantity
   Health Facility	Laskorpur General Hospital & Diagnostic Center, Mitu Nursing Institute, Popular General Hospital, Al Asif G. hospital	4
   Educational Facility	Oxford Nursery School, Railway Primary School, Homeopathic College	3
   Electricity Facility	Polli Biddut and PDB	Fully supplied
   Water Supply	Municipal Supply System, Submersible sources, Tube well	3 types
   Market Facility	Masumbazar Hat, Mujahit club area shop, Terminal shop.	–
   SWM system	Bin collection & House to House collection by Van	–

   Source: Field survey, 2017

   It is a surprising matter that there is no recreational site in the study area.

   Figure 3.1 Existing services in the study area Source: Field survey, 2017

   To gain the study objectives, the study area would be divided into three blocks. The following table can be indicated the separation of the research area.

   Table 3.2-Block name

   Block name	Surrounding area
   Block-A	Laskarpur
   Block-B	South shalgaria
   Block-C	Masumbazar

   Source: Field survey, 2017

   The purpose of the study could be gained from conducting questionnaires to the households at each block of ward no.08.On the other hand the study completed 100 questionnaires where 40 questionnaires could be fulfilled from block A with completing 30 questionnaires from other two blocks (block-B & C). Then User Satisfaction Index (USI) may be calculated based on the information about the satisfaction level of people to the selected municipal services. The perspective values that are putting on the following table would be numbered from the citizens opinions. Then the USI value can be obtained from the below equation,

   USI=Sum of USI of 3 blocks / Number of block

   Table 3.3-User satisfaction index (USI) calculation

   M. Service name	B-A	B-B	B-C	Total	USI value
   Health facility	65	54.16	67	186.16	62.05
   Educational facility	55.63	52.5	63.33	171.43	57.15
   Electricity facility	93.13	93.33	92.5	278.96	92.98
   Water supply	59.17	50.63	44.17	153.97	51.32
   Market facility	56.89	59.17	59.17	175.23	58.41
   Recreational facility	13.33	9.38	10	32.71	10.90
   SWM system	22.5	14.38	40	76.88	25.63

   Source: Author calculation, 2017

   After USI calculation, Community effect index (CEI) may be calculated. To do this task the value of USI can be divided into three groups i.e. 0-35 is valued as 1 where 2 are defined as the value of USI 36-70 and 71-100 indicates the value of 3. Again after valuation of USI the following equation is used for calculating of CEI.

   Community effect index (CEI) = 100-100 (Si-1)/ 3b

   Table 3.4-Community effect index (CEI) calculation

   Service name	B-A	B-B	B-C	CEI
   Health facility	2	2	2	44.44
   Educational facility	2	2	2	44.44
   Electricity facility	3	3	3	11.11
   Water supply	2	2	2	44.44
   Market facility	2	2	2	44.44
   Recreational facility	1	1	1	77.78
   SWM system	1	1	2	66.67

   Source: Author calculation, 2017

   The range of CEI value is categorized by the following way, 80-100 = Very bad; 60-80 = Bad; 40-60 = Good; 20- 40 = Very good and 0-20 = Excellent. According to that range the following table about the satisfaction level of study areas dwellers can be made.

   Table 3.5-Satisfaction level of municipal services

   Service name	Service condition	Service name	Service condition
   Health facility	Good	Water supply	Good
   Educational f.	Good	Market facility	Good
   Electricity f.	Excellent	Recreational f.	Bad
   SWM system	Bad	–	–

   Source: Author calculation, 2017

4. CONCLUSION

In this study, service inequality & absence of proper distribution & management systems in municipal service accessibility of ward 08 of Pabna municipality have been identified mainly. With proper planning some initiatives can solve the imbalance distribution of service facilities in the study area. The Government, NGOs and private sector investment &support can also be a vital scenario of changing phenomenon for improving the level of service facilities through redevelopment of imbalanced terms. However according to the findings, some suggestions may be generated for improving municipal services,

1. As the condition of solid waste management of ward 08 (Block- B &C) is in worse feature, a separate policy, plan or guideline need to be prepared and imposed by LGED for proper solid waste management.

2. Block-A is very negligible part within the selected three blocks of ward 08 where maximum roads are semi-concrete with no drainage system, moderate educational facility. Very terrible situation is created for the absence of solid waste dumping management there. So the uniform zoning plan & program is needed immediately from LGED & Pabna municipality.

3. Again block-A is also far away from the town that increases their vulnerabilities in marketing & shopping as they need for available assessment. A small local market is currently necessary to make their life flexible.

4. There have no play ground or open field/space to be used as recreational purpose. Ministry of Communication, Local Government Rural Development and Cooperatives, Housing and Public Works through their organizations can undertake actions about the installation of recreational sites.

REFERENCES

1. Bekink B, Municipal Services And Service Delivery And The Basic Functional Activities of Municipal Governments. University of Pretoria etd, 2006.

2. Serban, D. (2001), Community Involvement In Public Service Delivery, A Challenge or Both Local Authorities And Citizens: Romanian Experience, Research Triangle Institute Romania, Bucharest.

3. James, S. (1996), The Potential For Neighbourhood Involvement In The Design & Delivery of Public Services, The Young Foundation.

4. http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Pabna_District retrieved on 15thFebruary, 2017 at 6.30 PM (Bangladesh Local Time).

5. Sahiti A., Zeneli I., Biqkaj Z., Departament For Municiaplity Performance And Transparency Division.