The Policy Gap: How Dhaka's Rapid Urbanization Challenges Energy Security in an Import-Dependent Bangladesh

Dhaka, a hyper-dense megacity and the economic powerhouse of Bangladesh, is facing a major energy security crisis that is aggravated by the high rate of spatial growth and the growing reliance on imported primary fuels. The exact formulation of the policy gap between urban development and the regulation of energy is not studied thoroughly in the institutional perspective. Based on Qualitative Document Analysis (QDA) of statutory annual reports (2023–2025) and visual spatial analysis of historical satellite images (2020 & 2025), this study concludes that utilities do not consider urbanization as an integrated planning variable. Rather, urbanization is viewed as a risk that is spatialized and an issue of institutional friction. The thematic framework of Braun and Clarke makes it quite clear that an ontological gap is deep-rooted in the system, and there is an underpinning of historical discourses of "macroeconomic helplessness" in utility discourse, which makes the effects of global fuel price volatility on local operations clear. Based on these results, the research suggests three combined governance models (Zonal Energy Budgeting, Vertical Prosumer Cooperatives, and Metabolic Infrastructure Synchronization) as a way of solving these problems. The findings argue that it is only through disaggregation of siloed governance and the incorporation of energy generation into the urban structure of Dhaka that the city can decouple megacity development and the energy trap of imports.