Herald Tribune

In Bangladesh, an epic sign of changing fortunes

By David Rohde
The New York Times
WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2005

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 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 considered far better: Bashundhara 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 2,000-store retail colossus is South Asia's largest shopping center.

"The whole world is getting Westernized," Rahman said. "Why should we be left behind?"

The shopping center, 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 past several years, BMW, Land Rover and Volvo have opened new dealerships in Dhaka, the crowded capital of about 10 million people.

Since opening its doors in November, Bashundhara City has drawn huge crowds and has emerged as a symbol of progress among Bangladeshis, particularly those in the upper class 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 mega-mall 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 organization, estimated that only 5 percent to 6 percent of the people were 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."

Overall, Rahman added, Bangladesh is experiencing its brightest economic performance in decades. Led by the surge in clothing exports, the economy has grown by roughly 5 percent a year for more than a decade, and poverty has been reduced somewhat. Bangladesh has also slashed its infant mortality rate by 50 percent in 10 years, the sharpest decline in the world.

Yet staggering problems remain. Despite more than $30 billion in foreign aid since independence from Pakistan in 1971, almost half the more than 140 million Bangladeshis still live below the poverty line, according to U.S. figures.

Two-thirds of its work force 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 shopping center said Bangladesh must cut its population growth rate even more and increase its economic growth rate beyond 5 percent. "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 mega-mall 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 glass dome 55 meters, or 180 feet, wide. 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 building, 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 building itself, not to buy goods, which they called pricey. In short, it 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 shopping center while visiting relatives in Dhaka. Staring at the atrium's vast glass dome, Samad, an illiterate farmer, said it was proof that Bangladesh had improved in his lifetime. "Of course something has developed here," he said, his eyes twinkling. "Otherwise, how can this type of market take place?"


Just who is responsible for the shopping center, as well as Bangladesh's improving economic fortunes, is a matter of debate. The country's long-feuding political doyennes, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and the opposition leader, Sheikh Hasina, insist their own policies are ushering in an economic renaissance.

But visitors to Bashundhara City 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 shopping center signified western consumerism encroaching on Bangladeshi culture.

Abdul Salaam, a 45-year-old Education Ministry employee whose wife wore a head scarf - something unusual in religiously moderate Bangladesh - praised the shopping center, 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."