Govt extends taxicab route permits amid environmentalists' protests
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Mahmuda Shaolin
The government has extended route permits of taxicabs for another two years, despite protests by environmental groups that the air pollution in the city would aggravate as a result, officials said Monday.
The government has made the extension, allowing thousands of taxicabs to return to the streets even after the expiry of their eight year tenure, a communication ministry order said.
"At least 8000, taxicabs and their 20,000 drivers have remained idle since the end of their tenure in December last year," said M. Ezaz Mahmood, secretary general of Bangladesh Association of Taxi Cab Operators (BATCO).
"The latest government decisions have brought smiles back to the lives of thousands of jobless youth," he said, adding transport crisis in the capital would also ease.
The government had set an eight-year economic life of a taxicab when it was first introduced in Dhaka in late 1990s.
After the expiry of the economic life, the route permits of at least 8000 taxicabs have become automatically scrapped on December 31, 2007.
According to BATCO, some 11,000 cabs belonging to 90 operators have route permits in Dhaka alone, but following the scrapping only 3,000 cabs have been in operation since January.
The country's leading environmental group, however, protested the extension, saying it would only make air quality worse in the city.
"Most of these taxicabs are worst pollutants. They have passed their economic life, emit huge amount of carbon and make the city dirty," said Abdul Matin Chowdhury, of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (Bangladesh Environmental Movement).
"Their continued stay on Dhaka streets would aggravate air pollution in Dhaka and would be injurious to the health of its 12 million people inhabitants" he said.
According to the World Bank, Dhaka is one of the most polluted cities in the world because of lead poisoning and carbon emission by its hundreds of thousands of vehicles.
Some half a million motor vehicles ply in the city, but around quarter of them have become too old and dilapidated and spew more carbon than a normal vehicle.
Chowdhury said the government should have tested technical capabilities and emission control system of the taxicabs before allowing them to return to Dhaka streets.
"We think the government should introduce new taxicabs in the city, rather than bringing the ramshackle ones back to the road," he added.
The government has extended route permits of taxicabs for another two years, despite protests by environmental groups that the air pollution in the city would aggravate as a result, officials said Monday.
The government has made the extension, allowing thousands of taxicabs to return to the streets even after the expiry of their eight year tenure, a communication ministry order said.
"At least 8000, taxicabs and their 20,000 drivers have remained idle since the end of their tenure in December last year," said M. Ezaz Mahmood, secretary general of Bangladesh Association of Taxi Cab Operators (BATCO).
"The latest government decisions have brought smiles back to the lives of thousands of jobless youth," he said, adding transport crisis in the capital would also ease.
The government had set an eight-year economic life of a taxicab when it was first introduced in Dhaka in late 1990s.
After the expiry of the economic life, the route permits of at least 8000 taxicabs have become automatically scrapped on December 31, 2007.
According to BATCO, some 11,000 cabs belonging to 90 operators have route permits in Dhaka alone, but following the scrapping only 3,000 cabs have been in operation since January.
The country's leading environmental group, however, protested the extension, saying it would only make air quality worse in the city.
"Most of these taxicabs are worst pollutants. They have passed their economic life, emit huge amount of carbon and make the city dirty," said Abdul Matin Chowdhury, of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (Bangladesh Environmental Movement).
"Their continued stay on Dhaka streets would aggravate air pollution in Dhaka and would be injurious to the health of its 12 million people inhabitants" he said.
According to the World Bank, Dhaka is one of the most polluted cities in the world because of lead poisoning and carbon emission by its hundreds of thousands of vehicles.
Some half a million motor vehicles ply in the city, but around quarter of them have become too old and dilapidated and spew more carbon than a normal vehicle.
Chowdhury said the government should have tested technical capabilities and emission control system of the taxicabs before allowing them to return to Dhaka streets.
"We think the government should introduce new taxicabs in the city, rather than bringing the ramshackle ones back to the road," he added.