A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science

Thesis (M. Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1996

The informal sector (IS) consists of mostly labor intensive very small enterprises which are the only means of earning a living for survival of the poor urban residents and migrants. One of the major characteristics of these IS enterprises are clustering of same kind of enterprises in one geographical location. The IS entrepreneurs tend to cluster near to existing locations of similar enterprises. Clusters and concentrations of the small manufacturing variety of these enterprises are now denoted as informal enterprise industrial districts (IBID) in the informal sector and industrial districts literature. Along with other IS activities, IBIDs have also flourished in Dhaka, increasingly labeled as a mega-city. IBIDs play an important role in the urban economy of Bangladesh as a whole in micro economic sense but more importantly as a source of employment to the urban poor. But, the problems of poor physical environment and lack of access to basic urban services is a major constraint to the growth and development of IBIDs in Dhaka. Of several IBIDs in Dhaka, the one at Dholaikhal was purposively selected for this study with the primary objective of scrutinizing the validity of characterizing the Dholaikhal area as an informal industrial district and to investigate the condition of work sites and environmental situation in this IBID as an exercise for identifying the priorities of work site and environmental improvement plan of this IBID. The effects of environment are observable in health, safety and economic productivity. Dholaikhal reflects an urban community where some of the basic community services are available . The condition and availability of these services however are not sufficient to meet the demand of all informal enterprises of the area. In fact, some of the essential services are totally absent in the area or inaccessible to many enterprises and the workers engaged in those units. With the view of proposing a work site and environmental improvement plan, a field survey was conducted on the informal enterprises/workshops of the area in Feb-March, 1996. The findings from the research include: (1) Dholaikhal does resemble features and potentials of the small firm industrial districts (ID) of other countries; (2) the situation of work site and environment is in poor condition with lack of accessibility to basic urban services; (3) some of the enterprises are squatting in DCC land; and ( 4) the IBID entrepreneurs lack institutional financial supports. On the basis of these and other related findings, a plan is proposed for the improvement of the work site and local environment of the area. The three major component of this proposal are: (1) implementation of a project to provide water supply and installation of latrines and washing facility for improvement of sanitation facility, (2) providing a short term leasing program of DCC land, and (3) providing of financial support and assistance to the informal enterprises (IBs) of Dholaikhal to strengthen their business as well as to support the proposed project for the improvement of basic urban services.