Traffic congestion makes city life difficult
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Alamgir Sujaet
We have a dream of building Digital Bangladesh. Our all economic and administrative activities have been centralised in Dhaka as the capital city. Nowadays, the life in Dhaka city has come to almost standstill due to acute traffic congestion.
The traffic gridlock costs us valuable working hours and causes loss to foreign exchange in terms of burning of imported fuel on the streets. Our economy would have been more vibrant had there been sooth movement. It would save both time and money, and contribute much more to the gross domestic product (GDP). "The only positive aspect of the acute traffic congestion is that it has forced us to develop a habit of reading newspapers during the hours on the street," one city dweller chuckled.
In the era of globalisation, we can't keep ourselves isolated. If we compare with other capital cities, we would be surprised to see that, the average speed of the Dhaka city is only around 7.5 Km/hour. Apart from infrastructural facilities the traffic congestion is also one of the major reasons of holding back FDI (foreign Direct Investment) as well as local investment that could contribute a lot to our national economy. It is known to all that, the decentralisation of development is the pre-condition of democracy.
If we analyse the root cause, we will see that many people living in Dhaka city do not have any kind of serious business in the capital. It has been found that schooling of children is the one of the main reasons for concentration of such people in Dhaka. Parents, whose income is generated from outside Dhaka, live in the capital for better schooling for their kids. There are also city dwellers travelling to work places in the adjoining district towns. Many dependents of expatriate Bangladeshis live in the capital for a better living. 0ver the years, plenty of poor people migrated to Dhaka for seeking jobs.
Recently, the government has taken some initiatives like re-scheduling of the office and school timings, and divided the city for effecting a staggered weekly holiday to address the nagging traffic congestion. But we have seen the measures have not cut the congestion rather they have further distributed the woes. It is very natural that as an individual, we would consider our own interest first, but state/government should consider or protect the whole society's interest.
There are two approaches to establish a good system. One is motivational approach through campaign and movement and other is application of rules and regulations. It requires coordinated effort by the government and social organisations.
Now it is time to come forward with the innovative ideas and go into immediate action. The government should come first with the short-term, medium-term and long-term concrete and pragmatic plans.
(The writer is Regional Sales Manager, Mutual Food Products Ltd. He can be reached at e-mail: alamgir012@gmail.com)
We have a dream of building Digital Bangladesh. Our all economic and administrative activities have been centralised in Dhaka as the capital city. Nowadays, the life in Dhaka city has come to almost standstill due to acute traffic congestion.
The traffic gridlock costs us valuable working hours and causes loss to foreign exchange in terms of burning of imported fuel on the streets. Our economy would have been more vibrant had there been sooth movement. It would save both time and money, and contribute much more to the gross domestic product (GDP). "The only positive aspect of the acute traffic congestion is that it has forced us to develop a habit of reading newspapers during the hours on the street," one city dweller chuckled.
In the era of globalisation, we can't keep ourselves isolated. If we compare with other capital cities, we would be surprised to see that, the average speed of the Dhaka city is only around 7.5 Km/hour. Apart from infrastructural facilities the traffic congestion is also one of the major reasons of holding back FDI (foreign Direct Investment) as well as local investment that could contribute a lot to our national economy. It is known to all that, the decentralisation of development is the pre-condition of democracy.
If we analyse the root cause, we will see that many people living in Dhaka city do not have any kind of serious business in the capital. It has been found that schooling of children is the one of the main reasons for concentration of such people in Dhaka. Parents, whose income is generated from outside Dhaka, live in the capital for better schooling for their kids. There are also city dwellers travelling to work places in the adjoining district towns. Many dependents of expatriate Bangladeshis live in the capital for a better living. 0ver the years, plenty of poor people migrated to Dhaka for seeking jobs.
Recently, the government has taken some initiatives like re-scheduling of the office and school timings, and divided the city for effecting a staggered weekly holiday to address the nagging traffic congestion. But we have seen the measures have not cut the congestion rather they have further distributed the woes. It is very natural that as an individual, we would consider our own interest first, but state/government should consider or protect the whole society's interest.
There are two approaches to establish a good system. One is motivational approach through campaign and movement and other is application of rules and regulations. It requires coordinated effort by the government and social organisations.
Now it is time to come forward with the innovative ideas and go into immediate action. The government should come first with the short-term, medium-term and long-term concrete and pragmatic plans.
(The writer is Regional Sales Manager, Mutual Food Products Ltd. He can be reached at e-mail: alamgir012@gmail.com)