PM sits with all stakeholders tomorrow to review city's gridlock

FE Team | Published: May 12, 2026 23:34:20

Munima Sultana
Prime Minister (PM) Tarique Rahman is set to sit again with all the stakeholders concerned tomorrow (Thursday) to review the city's gridlock situation and modernization of traffic management.
The first policy-level meeting, chaired by the PM, was held on March 24, the first working day after the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays, reflecting the importance that the newly-elected BNP government attached to improving the city's traffic system.
Soon after the first meeting, the Cabinet Division also held a follow-up meeting with all the ministries and agencies concerned on March 31, directing immediate steps to implement 26 decisions.
However, most of the decisions taken at the first meeting are yet to be fully implemented, while some have been delayed due to the time-consuming nature of the initiatives, sources said.
The first meeting adopted decisions to be implemented under the BNP govt's 180-day plan, and all the authorities concerned were directed to submit progress and completion reports at the next meeting.
The decisions included introduction of electronic toll collection systems on the Dhaka Elevated Expressway and the Jatrabari Flyover, e-ticketing, stoppage-based city bus operations, addition of BRTC buses, freeing and fencing footpaths, redesigning spaces in front of foot-overbridges, gradual withdrawal of unfit buses from streets, introduction of traffic signaling systems, recovery of illegally occupied parking spaces of commercial buildings, and arranging parking facilities for vehicles used by deputy secretaries and lower-ranking officials.
Other initiatives included recruitment of additional traffic police for the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, particularly for night-time traffic management; strengthening the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA), which coordinates at least 20 ministries and agencies; development of multistoried parking facilities; and construction of two alternative roads - one through Madani Avenue and Basundhara, and another near Gabtoli.
However, a review by the FE found that, except for a few initiatives, little progress had been made over the past one and a half months.
The pending initiatives also included introduction of signaling systems at more than 100 points, inauguration of three bridges connecting Aftabnagar and Banasree by April, freeing some roads from pedal- and battery-operated rickshaws, cancellation of route permits for excess buses at different terminals, and introduction of GPS-based monitoring systems.
Transport experts, meanwhile, said the first meeting, attended mainly by the police officials - led by the home minister, failed to address the root causes of traffic congestion. Although the meeting was chaired by the PM, the home minister largely conducted the proceedings.
Professor Mohammad Shamsul Hoque, who attended the first meeting, told the FE that its resolutions focused more on symptoms than the root causes of congestion. Like many others, he also expressed doubt about whether the initiatives would bring any realistic change to the city's traffic situation or not.
Referring to proposals such as bringing the DTCA under the Prime Minister's Office or the Cabinet Division, he said structural reforms are necessary, with priority given to institutional capacity building.
"Transportation is an engineering-based and knowledge-intensive specialised sector, but that expertise was largely absent in the first meeting. Only the symptoms were discussed," he told the FE while commenting on the progress made during the last 50 days. He particularly noted that the decisions such as freeing footpaths and introducing traffic signal systems had been taken several times in the past to ease congestion. But none of the initiatives was sustained, as the root causes were never properly addressed.
smunima@yahoo.com