A half-baked solution to traffic indiscipline

An initiative by Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), in an apparent push to reinforce traffic discipline on city streets following protests in August, has raised eyebrows and questions. 

In a show of urgency, DSCC recently raised fencing on 28 spots across 17 kilometres of road medians with barbed wires held by bamboo poles, at an estimated cost of Tk 31 lakh.

Within three months of their installation, parts of the fencing are already falling apart.

This correspondent visited several spots including Maniknagar, Tantibazar, Shahjahanpur and Science Lab recently, and found that some bamboo sticks have already been displaced and barbed wires snapped at several places.

Apart from that, iron shafts have been used in some places to close off previously open median crossings, while rectangular hollow iron bars and rods were used on road dividers in some places to prevent pedestrians from crossing.

A MIXED REACTION

“Most of these bamboo sticks will collapse during monsoon,” said pedestrian Md Alimuzzaman, a student of Dhaka University.   

On the contrary, Shihab Ahmed, a banker who lives in Shahjahanpur, praised the initiative, saying, “People have now stopped crossing the road here and there.”

“It's risky for drivers when people run through the middle of the road. The fencing has stopped this practice,” said Hafizur Rahman, a car driver.

However, some city dwellers are not happy with the new initiative, saying that DSCC has installed those “haphazardly”.

At Doyaganj intersection, this correspondent found no opening on the median for pedestrians to cross the road. DSCC has blocked off the entire median in one place, which has left pedestrians no choice but to cross the road there amid moving traffic. 

“At the time of crossing the road, people who are cautious usually take a pause on the road median to check on traffic. But there's no such scope here,” said Azmat Ali, a local shopkeeper.

Skeptical of the initiative's benefit, Rokan Uddin, a resident of Mugda, said, “It's an eyewash and a waste of public money.”

“I can guarantee that if you come here a few months later, you'll find no barbed wire or bamboo sticks,” he said.

EXPENDITURE

In DSCC, the total length of road medians is 46.14 kilometres. DSCC has so far erected barbed wire fences on 17.6 kilometres of medians. Median crossings are still open in some places, while some are fenced with iron rods and pipes.

According to DSCC estimates, about Tk 10 lakh was used for fencing 9 kilometre long median in zone-1, Tk 8 lakh for three kilometres in zone-2, Tk 3.5 lakh for 1.3 kilometres in zone-3, Tk 6.31 lakh for two kilometres in zone-4 and Tk 3.27 lakh for 2.3 kilometres in zone-5.

DSCC carried out the work through contractors, who were awarded framework contracts for one year.

WHY THE RUSH?

In August, the country saw unprecedented student protests for road safety. Thousands from various schools, colleges and universities took to the streets for nearly a week, after two college students were run over by a recklessly-driven bus in the capital.

Following the incident, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Md Nojibur Rahman, sat with high-ups of DSCC at the latters' headquarters.

At that meeting, DSCC was given a number of directives to ensure road safety. Of those, one was of sealing road medians to stop random road crossing by pedestrians.

Later, in a hasty move, DSCC installed bamboo sticks and tangled barbed wires on the median strips.

“PMO gave us directives to stop it [jaywalking] immediately, even if it was by using barbed wire and bamboo stumps,” said DSCC's Additional Engineer Asaduzzaman.

“At least, we've managed to stop haphazard road crossing,” he claimed.

“If properly maintained, these will last for about four years,” Asaduzzaman said, adding they will replace these in future.

Talking to The Daily Star, PM's Principal Secretary Nojibur Rahman said, “Durable materials need to be used, otherwise it [the road median fencing] will not bear any fruit.”

“We'll instruct them not to use anything that is not durable,” he added.