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BD Halchal
Traffic Jam in Dhaka city , Bangladesh
Friday, March 26, 2010 by mishu

Traffic jam in Dhaka is

vary common problem. Every day we are facing jam. Government take some
positive step .Otherwise we are going big problem in our daily life. I live in Dhaka
khilgaon , only 20 minutes away from my office Eskaton . but I get out from my
house about 1 hour and 30 minutes before . Because of terrible traffic jam, I
remember a week, right after Eid-ul-Fitr Dhaka city was like half empty, at that
week I went to office in 20 minutes. Dhaka is a mega city. More than twelve
million people live here. Day by day the number is increasing and most part of
Dhaka is badly affected by the population growth. More than 7 hundred thousand
rickshaws ply the city road, but only 75 thousand have legal number. This huge
number of rickshaws is creating traffic jam. From time to time attempts are made
to reduce the number, but the initiative usually produces no results. The number
of rickshaw pullers is huge. Almost there are no roads or street or lane free from

traffic jam. Traffic jam is obstructing trade

and commerce. Illegal parking is another reason for traffic jam. Cars, trucks and
other vehicles are parked almost everywhere. Faulty traffic signaling systems,
inadequate manpower and narrow road spaces and overtaking tendency of
drivers create pro-longed traffic congestions and intensify sufferings of
commuters keeping people motionless as well as creating suffocating condition in
the streets. Also there are bus terminals not authorized by the traffic department
and drivers do not go by traffic rules. VIP protocol maintaining is another reason
for frequent traffic jams in the streets and divider problem in the city’s different
important roads also causes congestion. Besides, illegal car parking, and
unplanned road excavating on the same road by Water and Sewer Authority
(WASA), Dhaka Electric Supply Authority (DESA), telephone and telegraph
agencies without any integration among them, is responsible for intolerable
traffic jams. In any roundabout in Dhaka the plying CNG, ricksha, bus, etc form
multiple lines. They do this to grab a tiny space out of sheer desperation.
Behavioral scientists have long since done experiments to show that even insects
demonstrate aggressive behavior when they are placed in a crowded situation.
Therefore, it comes as no surprise to see that Dhaka’s pedestrians, thelawallahs,
rickshaw pullers, CNG drivers, van pullers, and bus/truck drivers all vie for tiny
spaces with noticeable aggression and utter disregard for others’ right of way.
This obviously creates serious problems such as unnecessary traffic holdup and
minor fender bender incidences. Nonetheless, there is a price tag for such bizarre
behavior. The traffic managers have failed to do anything about this problem and
the situation is going from bad to worse day by day.

Most of time, I see that during jam traffic police just let one side go for like 5
minutes or more which increase the jam more. They should manage it more
professionally; they could let go each side 1 minute.

To reduce traffic jam we can take steps such as:

• Have a good public transport system so people would use it

• Ban rickshaw from the main roads of Dhaka
• Good traffic system
• Good lane system
• Traffic police should do their duty properly
• Use zebra cross and foot over bridge
• Respect the law

The root, stem and leaf of the problem

Contrary to popular belief, Dhaka city is a planned city. Patrick Geddes made the
first plan during the British rule which was followed by the plan made by the
Pakistan government in 1956 and finally the Dhaka Metropolitan Development
Plan in 1990.

‘Unfortunately, because of population pressure, economic growth and

mismanagement the city has outstripped the plan,’ says Dr Amanat Ullah Khan,
professor of geography at Dhaka University.

According to the older plans, the Tejgaon Industrial area, the cantonment and
most of the rail crossing were constructed outside the city parameters.
Unfortunately, they all lie in the heart of the city, at present.

Nearly 40 per cent of city space is occupied by campuses of DU, BUET,

Jagannath, Dhaka Cantonment, BDR cantonment, the courts, where public
transports find very limited space, experts opine.

‘With mass transport not allowed through BUET and DU it creates excessive
pressure on the adjoining roads,’ says one senior police official, ‘also, the judge
court and Jagannath University has eat up the most important parts of Old
Dhaka,’ he adds.

He says, that because of the location of the Press Club at Segunbagicha, a large
number of processions, demonstrations start from there causing massive
congestion in that busy area.

While relocating some of these establishments may not be feasible any longer,
especially since the university campuses have become an integral part of city life,
experts believe, that the authorities in these institutions could allow a better flow
of traffic during extreme traffic scenarios and the government should develop
alternate roads and flyover along these places to smoothen the flow of traffic.

While very little can be done to change the larger picture now, there are a number
of smaller factors which aggravate the traffic situation in the city.

The uncoordinated road digging by Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), Dhaka

Electric Supply Authority (DESA), Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA),
Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB), Titas Gas and other utility
service providers together make reasons for further road congestion, say experts.

The city’s numerous rail crossings and the influx of rickshaws into the capital
from different places of the country with the advent of the Ramadan make road
traffic stagnant, especially during this time.

Each day around 80 trains enter and exit the city, which causes six hours halt of
traffic in total through each level crossing. Such types of level crossing create
intolerable congestion at Magbazar, Mohakhali, Staff road, Karwan Bazar and
other places.

According to the office of traffic control there are 76,000 licensed rickshaws in
Dhaka though the actual figure is above 600,000. ‘An additional 100,000
rickshaws enter the city during Eid just to make additional income,’ says one
senior traffic official. Moreover, every year some 30,000 new vehicles are
registered. And while officially there are 160,000 motorised vehicles registered,
of which 4,800 consist of buses, the unauthorised numbers of vehicles are much
higher. ‘Last year, more than 60,000 motorised vehicles were added to the
existing number of unregistered vehicles. Among them, nearly 50,000 were
found in Dhaka alone,’ says Sayedur.

Although bus counters have been opened by many in the recent past but their
unplanned establishments have resulted in the buses occupying road spaces that
otherwise are essential for traffic flow. The buses stop randomly to pick up and
drop passengers.

Most foot-over bridges and underpasses remain unutilised by the pedestrians

reasoning dark and dodgy atmosphere inside as billboards block view from
outside. Unhygienic passageways, steep stairs and pathway encroached by
hawkers make it difficult to move on the bridge, say pedestrians. Although these
all are true, the bottom line of the fact is that people are habituated and thus love
using the shortest way by crossing over the street. Now, that it poses risk for the
vehicles and create unnecessary traffic block let apart risking the pedestrians’
lives, are not their concern.

Many compressed natural gas (CNG) refuelling stations and petrol pumps are
located near to the intersections that disturb the streets when large queues of
vehicles break into the road. Although there is rule to set up refuelling stations
having vacant spaces to accommodate thirty vehicles to wait inside the
compound, it has been overlooked.

The government is to blame for the chaos when it approves universities,

commercial establishments, garment factories, schools, clinics and wholesale
kitchen markets at the residential areas that make life mess for those living in the
community.

A lot of the plush shopping malls in the city have resulted in illegal road
occupation by vehicles. Between Panthapath and Sonargaon intersection the
traffic jam at anytime of the day is horrible because of the city’s biggest shopping
mall constructed in the area, urban researchers allege.

And though the market offers a parking space of 1,200 vehicles, here too the
people are habituated and love to park them on the street so that they can come
out of the market and drive away fast without having to go down the parking
space, pay for the parking ticket and look for the driver.

Officials at the traffic department believe that the fines for traffic violations are
too meagre to raise fear for the violators. The red signal violation fine is only Tk
250 and illegal parking is only Tk 200.

Outside the mall and right beside the road, occupation of tea-stalls and shops
make difficult for pedestrians to use the pathway.

‘We should not establish new commercial establishments in the already

congested places. High-rise commercial structures should be built outside city to
keep the balance, says professor Nurul Islam Nazem of the Centre for Urban
Studies.

The way out

The city’s lone dependency on surface transportation system should be
diversified to monorail, metro rail, and elevated expressways, Nazem believes.
‘Dhaka is turning into an “uneconomical city”,’ he says for the more time it takes
for travelling now and the traffic jams increasing the cost of travelling.

Not only is the economy losing out from the increased cost of fuel but traffic jams
sometimes result in deterioration of perishable goods in an existing food crisis,
says a traffic official.

‘Since our traffic management system is extremely poor, the laws should be
updated and monitored carefully and regularly,’ added Nazem.

‘There should be a whole “park” to educate on traffic system for the residents and
children especially since one of the main reasons for road accidents and drivers
not following rules is because of the abundance of fake licences,’ says Sayedur
Rahman, deputy commissioner of Traffic Division (south) of DMP.
At the core of traffic congestion, development of traffic management is the need
of time, says Nazem.

Experts recommend that flyovers be constructed at important intersections to

reduce traffic congestion. Expressways should be introduced for passengers to
cover long distances over busy routes, like from Gabtoli to Motijheel, directly
without any stoppage.

Nazem recommends development of river front to bring the surrounding rivers

under the transportation system. ‘If the water way can be developed, time can be
saved and the pressure over the city roads could be reduced.’

Lack of east-west connecting roads is another cause of this problem so people

have to use the north-southward transports more to reach locations connecting to
the east-west, says Sohel Rana, assistant police commissioner of the southern
traffic department. Government has planned east-west connecting roads over the
Rangs Bhaban, Hatirjheel and at airport near Zia colony to ensure easy plying of
vehicles.

‘Mass transit such as buses has to be drawn attention to at this point,’

recommends Sayedur. More roads should be freed from rickshaws and
encroached street spaces should be recovered to expand walkways and ensure
traffic flow. The inter district bus terminals have to be relocated at the city’s
outskirts. ‘Most importantly, public awareness should be raised on to maintain
signals, use foot over bridges more and respect traffic laws,’ he says. ‘We need
proper enforcement of traffic laws.’

‘Public transport should be encouraged and once people feel that the public
transportation is more effective, they would limit their use of private vehicles,’
says Dr K M Maniruzzaman, professor of the department of urban and regional
planning, BUET. ‘The better thing to do is to discourage the number of
commuters using single vehicle, improvement of public transportation is the only
answer to discourage use of excessive private vehicles,’ he adds.

The biggest problem is actually related to our policies. Integration of public

transportation routes is essential. ‘The main reason why the circular waterway
failed was because of lack of integration. Suppose a commuter using the circular
waterway, after he gets down from the boat, he has to have an immediate mode of
transport to get in to the city. These routes should have been integrated,’ Sayedur
explains.

‘The population has developed beyond its capacity but the physical capacity of the
roads did not increase and secondly, to run the system, we must have effective
managers with proper traffic education,’ says Amanat.

The traffic police responsible to look after the twisted mess over Dhaka’s road
transportation however perform their duties without an institutional training.
With the existing manpower of about 2,200 to uphold traffic discipline on the
3,000 kilometres separated between 376 points, traffic officials complain of
exhaustion and frustration between them.

‘When we are investing so much to hire coaches to train our cricket team, we
might as well think of hiring effective city managers, who will be like coaches and
educate us on properly utilising available road space and train the city managers
to run the city properly,’ Amanat added.

Commercial and academic failure ‘One of the major drawbacks in the

country’s business infrastructure happens to be traffic congestion,’ says Hossain
Khaled, President of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI).

‘We are often in dilemma when it comes to estimate the amount of time it would
require to deliver a specific consignment because of traffic congestions.’

He regrets saying, that traffic congestion problem is discouraging lot of

international investors. ‘I had once recommended a foreign business delegation
to setup their factory at Ishwardi, because the place has effective gas supply and
good communication with Dhaka. However, that group totally felt discouraged
because, although it should take three and half hours to reach there without any
stoppage but because of traffic jams, its completely unknown how much time it
would actually require.’

Traffic congestion is not only affecting our business but the education sector as
well. M Asiuzzaman, assistant professor, department of media and journalism,
University of Liberal Arts, said ‘students cannot do other tasks such as
photocopying or collecting notes before attending class in the morning because a
lot of time gets wasted on traffic congestions. It wastes lot of working hours of
students as well as teachers. In many occasions, students and teachers fail to
attend classes in due time. And it is more painful when students fail to reach
exam halls and fails just due to a social problem’.

The future
Recently, the government has taken up the Strategic Transport Plan (STP) to
curb the existing crisis.

ABM Shahjahan, executive director of Dhaka Transport Coordination Board

(DTCB) says that in Dhaka the total length of the road route is 2000 km but
among them, buses are plying over only 200 km. On this 200 km route, a special
and dedicated bus lane is going to be introduced to encourage mass transit.

‘On the first phase of the STP (Strategic Transport Plan), we will phase out the
unfit vehicles from the DMP list. ‘Multi modal transportation’ system should be
introduced immediately, not depending solely on the surface routes. Circular
waterway would be introduced, which will reduce fuel consumption by 30 to 40
percent. Underground railway and elevated expressway will be introduced under
STP’ he added.

Shahjahan said more that the fines for violating traffic laws during peak hours
would increase from the existing Tk 200 to Tk 500.

Motor Vehicles Ordinance 1983 and Motor Vehicles Law 1984 are going to be
updated and under this reform, drivers of the vehicles cannot escape his
responsibility upon wrongdoing.

The major projects undertaken in the strategic transport plan (STP) are highway
schemes included in phase one, within in 2005 to 2009, are from Zia Colony to
Mirpur, Panthapath to Rampura (via duct road), Malibagh to Janapath and an
intensive traffic management programme.

Two surveys on BRTA and bus route priority measure will be conducted also on
that phase.

Highways such as Agargaon to Mirpur section 2, Bangla College to Kafrul,

Gulistan to Jatrabari, Maghbazar to Mouchak, flyover and an ‘elevated
expressway’, metro system design and construction will be conducted on the
second phase of STP within 2010 to 2014.

And in the third phase (2015 to 2019) upgrading of 330 km regional highways,
the highway between eastern bypass to Dhaka bypass, eastern by-pass, western
by-pass and Dhaka link road will be conducted.

And as the government’s programmes remain on the pipeline to develop Dhaka’s

traffic, experts point out that unless the focus of development is drawn outside
Dhaka country’s economy is unlikely to develop, say academicians.
Administration should be decentralised and Dhaka should not be the only focus
of administration and development activities. The seventeen other towns of the
country which formerly served as district headquarters have growth potentials
but are not given much attention. If developed they can be turned into the
country’s second-rank metropolises. Development in the urban areas is inevitable
in order to reduce the traffic from Dhaka.