The policy gap: how Dhaka's rapid urbanization challenges energy security in an import-dependent Bangladesh

The hyper-dense urbanization of Dhaka is exceeding the ability of the import-based energy system in Bangladesh, but the policy disconnection between urban planning and energy governance has not received much research. This paper analyzes the role of institutional narratives and institutional coordination breakdowns between urban planners and energy utilities in enhancing energy insecurity. Based on qualitative document analysis of statutory annual reports (2023-2025) of the three largest utilities in Dhaka and spatial analysis of satellite imagery (2020 & 2025) we can define the systematic policy gap: utilities present urbanization as an exogenous operational hazard (spatialized risk), but not an integrated planning variable, and blame the blame on a supposedly macroeconomic helplessness. Thematic analysis demonstrates that there are four common patterns, such as spatialized risk, discourses of import dependency, difference in resource framings between gas and electricity industries, and retrospective infrastructure correction, which all prolong siloed governance. On a quantitative level, satellite data indicate that residential load increases by more than 60 percent in the peripheral areas over the past five years with the green cover giving way to concrete infills. Methodological drawbacks such as use of publicly available institutional documentation, which is likely to underrepresent informal practices and realities of day-to-day operations, are also present. In practice, we suggest three forms of governance: zonal energy budgeting, vertical prosumer cooperatives and metabolic infrastructure synchronization would put urban growth back into the path of distributed, domestic energy solutions. The implication of these findings is that the decoupling process of megacity development and import traps needs to be forced through the establishment of cross-sectoral regulation and incorporation of energy requirements into the spatial planning codes.