Things go haywire on city roads

Jubair Hasan | Published: August 25, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Traffic congestions in the capital have reached an extreme level in recent days, taking their toll on trade and economic activities by costing the people's valuable working hours.
Traffic officials mentioned a number of factors causing such gridlock. They include pressure of vehicles carrying schoolchildren, haphazard construction work and drivers' apathy to follow traffic rules.
Experts, however, blamed poor traffic management, unplanned urbanisation, Dhaka-based economic activities, transport mismanagement and many other things for terrible tailbacks at many points across the city.
They also urged the government to strengthen the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) to coordinate all transportation-related activities of various authorities concerned.
According to economists, traffic jams cost more than two hours a day of the commuters leaving an impact on the national economy.
Severe traffic congestions were witnessed almost everywhere in the overcrowded capital on Sunday, as city-dwellers headed for different destinations across the country on the first working day of the week.
The jams were so severe that it took more than an hour to travel even half a kilometre, many commuters said.
While sharing the painful experience of gridlock, Meer Mostafizur Rahaman, an employee of ICB Capital Management, said he started for Motijheel at about 6:00am from Mirzapur in Tangail to attend his office. "I reached Gabtoli in the capital at about 8:00am, and then I spent more than two hours to reach my Motijheel office. It's really horrible and costly," he said.
Shamsul Arefin, a banker who was seen walking desperately on a footpath to reach his Karwan Bazar office in time, said he got down from the bus at Khamarbari, as it took nearly one hour to reach there from College Gate of Mohammadpur.
According to the traffic control section of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), the situation turned worst on the key city streets, including Mirpur-New Market Road, Manik Miah Avenue-Farmgate, Banani-Farmgate via PMO (Prime Minister's Office), Rampura-Malibag, Satraasta-Mouchak via Mogbazar since 7:00am on Sunday.
When contacted, DMP joint commissioner (traffic) Mosleh Uddin Ahmed admitted that the pressure of vehicles on the city roads increased in the recent days. He said construction of the Mogbazar-Mouchak flyover made the roads in the area unusable and its impact was left all over the city.
At the same time, the increased number of vehicles carrying schoolchildren made it difficult for law-enforcers to control traffic in the peak hours, he also said.
"Another key reason is the growing number of vehicles, as around 36,000 new vehicles join the city streets each year, although capacity of the roads has not increased," he added.
Urban planner Mubasshar Hussain said different authorities in Dhaka city, like the Roads and Highways Department, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (Rajuk), Local Government Engineering Division, two city corporations, Bangladesh Army, Department of Environment and DTCA were implementing different projects separately.
He said the authorities often forget about the STP (Strategic Transport Plan), especially when they implement public-private partnership (PPP) or foreign-funded projects.
There should be a unitary body to coordinate all the transportation-related authorities, he opined. The urban planner also added that the government must think about all possible alternatives before undertaking any infrastructure development project, so that the existing road infrastructure was not hampered.
According to a Rajuk study on Regional Development Planning (RDP), the city dwellers waste 11 minutes on an average at every major intersection around the city.
Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, additional research director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said traffic jam creates an adverse impact on the economy, largely on the service sector, by increasing costs.
"At the same time, spending of lower-income groups, cost of wasted fuel, and environment pollution rise significantly because of such congestions," he said.
To lessen the much-talked-about problem, he suggested immediate expansion of the mega city, and spreading the economic activities to the cities and towns adjacent to the capital to discourage people coming to the capital.
"Relocation of manufacturing units, specially the apparel units, from Dhaka is also important to lessen the population pressure on the overpopulated city," he added.
According to a joint study of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), nagging traffic jams in Dhaka cost around Tk 200 billion a year and 8.16 million working hours everyday.