No solution to ease traffic congestion

With Dhaka's perennial traffic congestion getting worse by the day, Finance Minister AMA Muhith has given no solution to improve the situation other than some ideas he has been spouting about for years.

In his budget speech Thursday, he even promised to do more. He said his government was working towards easing traffic congestion in important cities including Dhaka on a priority basis.

But experts see no hope and rather fear that the situation would only deteriorate in Dhaka and other major cities for the government's uncoordinated development projects that will eat up more time and money on the roads.

Muhith said traffic in Dhaka city was in disarray not only for a lack of roads and flyovers but also for the absence of an integrated traffic control system. Hence, he said, there should be an integrated traffic control system for Dhaka and neighbouring cities of Narayanganj, Manikganj, Gazipur, Munshiganj and Narshingdi including the newly proposed metropolitan city in Purbachal Jalshiri area.

But no such integrated system could be initiated even after discussing it for over a decade.

He said they were considering creating an independent metropolitan communication authority, which would mainly formulate plans, control traffic system, issue transport licences, conduct tests, and coordinate operations of different types of transport and activities relating to construction of flyovers or underground railways.

Muhith came up with the idea when there is already a similar body—Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority, which has hardly any authority in this regard. Rather different ministries are working without coordination and taking up projects separately, leaving Dhaka city's traffic in a total chaos.

In his budget speech in 2009, he said, “We would take an integrated approach to tackle the problems arising from increasing traffic jams, deteriorating water supply and drainage systems and environmental pollution.”

He did not focus on how the situation was getting more complicated due to unplanned projects.

“We have not heard about the independent metropolitan communication authority. We don't know how the idea came or whether there was any study in this regard,” said transport and infrastructure expert Prof Shamsul Hoque.

“We have been discussing formation of a powerful body to ensure integrated development of the city, its traffic and transport system,” Hoque, who teaches civil engineering at Buet, told The Daily Star.

He regretted that the Strategic Transport Plan (STP) was formulated in 2008 but it was not followed. “Different ministries are taking up projects, limiting scope for future projects. The ministries concerned only talk about coordination and integration but don't work on it.”

Regarding improvement of the city's traffic, Muhith repeated some projects like the bus rapid transport and metro rail, while plans to construct three-layer circular routes, five MRT lines and two BRT lines by updating the Strategic Transport Plan (STP) are nothing new.

He skipped the Dhaka Elevated Expressway, construction of which is still uncertain five years after its initiation. However, he said an elevated expressway would be constructed in Chittagong.

He mentioned partial opening of the Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover, which itself is an embarrassment for the government because of its faulty design.

The minister highlighted the ongoing projects and plans to improve transport and communication infrastructure but said nothing about the growing number of road crashes and casualties due to chaos on roads and highways.

Experts say a guideline to reduce traffic chaos and road accidents should have been there in the proposed budget.