Struggling through Traffic mess in Dhaka

image: BBC

Abu Afsarul Haider in the first of a two-part article on the traffic problem in Dhaka

Bangladesh is a home of 160 million people and its capital Dhaka, which is one of the fastest growing cities in the world, has at present a population of more than 16 million. By 2025, the UN predicts Dhaka will have more than 20 million people.

All the mega cities in the world suffer from traffic jam at certain hours of the day, especially during office-hour called rush-hour. What we have in Dhaka is not traffic jam, it is total traffic chaos and mismanagement. As usual we can play blame game but before doing so, let us analyse the situation to find where the problem lies?

* Unpleasant as it may sound, it is not only in Dhaka the whole country is full of indisciplined drivers and pedestrians who have no respect for traffic rules and regulations. Everywhere in the world traffic is managed by the auto signaling light and one can hardly see a policeman. Whereas, in Bangladesh, at every intersection along with auto signaling light there are at least four policemen, including one sergeant, standing at the corner but still they are helpless to manage this mad traffic.

It seems everybody is in a hurry; nobody will follow the lane or speed limit or let others pass. Drivers are continuously honking their horn, overtaking from the wrong side and driving their vehicles in such a manner that anybody new in town will start thinking negative about the people and country. Pedestrians show less interest to use footpath, foot-over-bridge or under-pass. Many times I have seen when it is turn for vehicles to move, pedestrians are also simultaneously trying to cross the road from different directions, thus slowing down the traffic and causing accident.

Public transport drivers stop the vehicles on the middle of the road for letting passengers in and out. Nobody dares to raise voice against them. Of course, drivers are not always at fault; it is us, the passengers who create problem some time. Such as, a public transport driver who respects traffic signal and drives at the regulated speeds are cursed by the passengers continuously. I have noticed passengers shouting from the back and asking the driver to speed up, because the other buses have overtaken him and went ahead. Owners of the private cars, seating on the back, may have some control on the drivers but many are least bothered.

Suggestions: The problem lies in our behaviour pattern, many break the law knowingly and many don't even realise that they are doing something terribly wrong. This is a social problem and needs to be addressed accordingly. Teaching a child, what is wrong or right is easy but bringing change on the grownups is tough but not impossible. There should be a collective efforts through making partnership with different non-governmental organisations (NGOs), development partners, social organisations like Rotary, Lions etc who should take a long-term plan and project on teaching ethical driving, road crossing, traffic police management with audio-visual display, images etc.

Public and private sectors can give priority on hiring those drivers who have training from such organisations. Electronic media can play a huge role by showing small documentaries of one or two minutes on the subject on a regular basis. Social organisations can take a project on creating awareness among the people. All this should be a long-term project and not just an eye-wash during the Traffic Week.

Since, fine and penalty is so negligible for violating traffic rules, people don't care much. Here, we need to be harsh, I am confident if we can fine heftily along with some punishment to drivers and pedestrians, things will start changing.

* Dhaka has a population of 16 million people, and the road network is not adequate. For a standard city, minimum road requirement is 25 per cent whereas Dhaka has only 7.5 per cent road of its total area. A significant portion of road is occupied by the hawkers, shopkeepers, construction materials of real estate developers etc., which is causing obstruction on free movement of vehicles. To make things worse these roads are subject to cuttings throughout the year by DESA, WASA and other utility facilitators. Dhaka is overpopulated and definitely it is not designed to accommodate 16 million people. Every day more and more people are coming to Dhaka for business, job-seeking, health care, education etc. This huge population acts as a catalyst to traffic congestion.

Suggestions: Now, we cannot build new roads overnight. Building roads and developing infrastructures are the responsibility of the government and it should be a continuous process. For a short-term solution, whatever roads we have, whether it is a main road or inner road of residential or commercial area, we must make maximum use of those.

There should be an integrated and coordinated plan among all the utility facilitators, so that digging roads does not continue throughout the year.

Since Dhaka is offering better business, good education and better health care facilities than other parts of the country, people prefer to live here and we cannot ask or force them to go away. Dhaka is surrounded by small townships like Savar, Gazipur, Bhairab, Ghorashal, Mymensing, Tangail, Narayanganj. Munshigang etc. All we need to do is the improvement of connectivity of our highways, railways, waterways so that people can commute from adjoining small townships to Dhaka, let us say, within one to two hours' time. We know government does not have enough financial resources, but if there is sincerity, honesty, integrity and everything is transparent, many private organisations will come forward for the development of infrastructure. Here, government role should be creating an environment for the private sector to come forward; there will be a win-win situation for both public and private organisations. These roads should be run on the basis of toll so that regular maintenance can be made. We need to improve our railways and introduce commuter trains with modern coach on regular intervals from these townships. If we can really materialise this project, the outcome will be tremendous, which will not only change the scenario of Dhaka but also of the entire country. Because of high living costs in Dhaka, many people will prefer to live in those townships and commute everyday for work.

Once more and more people start living on those townships, the private sector will sense their need and will come up with good housing, better education, health care and other facilities.

* There are around 1.5 million registered vehicles in Bangladesh and Dhaka has six hundred thousand of them. Non-motorised and motorised vehicles are running side by side in Dhaka and also in other cities as well. Here, we have messed up the situation, at the very beginning. Since we never had a detail land transport policy, in the name of importing public transport, importers have taken the advantage and imported different types of vehicles for earning money. We have seen very odd-looking vehicles like battery-operated rickshaws, colourful rickshaws, vans, human puller carts, baby taxis, mini buses, buses, trucks, human haulers and what not, in addition to the latest model Mercedes cars desperately fighting to move on the road. Since the speed capacities of these vehicles are different, one is slowing down the other and thus creating a haphazard situation.

Suggestion: Now, we have to decide first, how we would like to see Dhaka and our other cities in the next 10, 15, 20 or 30 years' time. Economic activities, growth etc., depend on our decision. If we want a well-planned Dhaka and Bangladesh, then we need a total overhauling of our land transport policy. We must have detailed discussion on the subject with all the stakeholders and adopt a complete land transport policy where it should be mentioned specifically what types of vehicles we will allow on the road. Authorities concerned do not sometimes allow rickshaws and other non-motorised vehicles to ply on different roads, but, this will give a temporary relief to the problem. Rickshaws and other non-motorised vehicles are there because of demand for them. If we can create an environment where commuters will no longer use those vehicles, they will be phased out automatically.

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afsarulhaider@gmail.com

Source: Thefinancialexpress-bd