First phase fails to ease traffic congestion
The first phase of the ambitious Strategic Transport Plan (STP) of Dhaka Transport Co-ordination Board (DTCB) has almost failed to achieve its target of easing appalling traffic congestion in the city.
In its first phase, the STP envisaged construction of an elevated expressway, two flyovers, a tunnel linking Tejgaon with the Airport and six new roads to connect the eastern and western part of the city. It also included strategies for the improvement of traffic management.
Of the proposed construction works and traffic management projects, only one road has seen the light of the day.
It is a two and a half kilometre stretch of the road from Zia Colony to Mirpur Road which is now being constructed by the DCC. The road, which is at its final stage, will connect the eastern and western part of the capital.
A DTCB source preferring anonymity said the other component of the plan is a World Bank-funded road management project on Uttara-Moghbazar-Ramna-Sadarghat route introducing a mass rapid transit (MRT) system in the city's one of the busiest thoroughfares. The project is still at its feasibility study stage, and if finished it is expected to be functional in four years.
Rests of the projects under the first phase of the STP are either yet to start or will have to be reviewed due to construction of alternative roads violating the master plan.
Which is why the recommendations of STP need a review, said a high official of DTC.
The 20-year-long master plan, which was prepared at a cost of Tk 12 crore, has three phases. The tenure of the first phase is 2005 to 2009.
Construction works under $ 413m first phase were to be executed by Rajuk, Roads and Highways department, Local Government and Engineering Department (LGED) and Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), while the improvement of traffic management strategies were to be implemented by DTCB, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC).
"Projects such as Tejgaon-Airport Tunnel and the road connecting Panthapath and Rampura as mentioned in the first phase are not viable after the construction of a road beside the Dhaka Cantonment and the construction of Hatirjheel Beautification Project. Besides, there is no future for other construction projects of the first phase," he said.
Initiated in March 2004 by the government with the assistance of World Bank, the $5.52b Strategic Transport Plan was completed in December 2005. However, the STP got approval four years later in June 2008.
Sources at DTCB have blamed the lack of power of the agency as coordinating body, frequent change of three governments since the preparation of the master plan, bureaucratic tangles and lack of will among the policy makers for failing to achieve the target of the first phase.
"The first three years of 20-year programme were wasted due to dillydallying of the government in taking up the project under the wings of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and finalising the organogram. It was also late in giving approval to the STP," said a DTCB high official.
"After getting the approval of STP in 2008, we faced some other problems like lack of capacity building, dual control over DTCB and the tendency of other organisations to violate the master plan without consulting us," he said.
The experts also blamed the government for not allowing the DTCB to function on its own.
"As a coordinating body DTCB is not functional at all. The agency is under the Ministry of Communications although the mayor of DCC is the chairman of DTCB. Moreover, it has no power to force other agencies concerned to follow its recommendations," said Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, who is the chairman of STP Advisory Committee.
"Not only in the case of STP, it is a common practice in Bangladesh that the government usually does not execute the studies properly. To me, the government is always suffering from 'analysis paralysis' which indicates its lack of will to implement any study," he commented.
The experts demanded formation of another regulatory authority and a revised master plan in the light of STP considering the present scenario.
"For proper execution of any transportation master plan, DTCB is not enough. There should be a higher authority, may be directly under the prime minister's office, including the DTCB, Rajuk and Wasa," said eminent urban planner Prof Nazrul Islam while talking to The Daily Star.
"That authority will coordinate and force the agencies concerned to execute the plans. Otherwise no master plan will be implemented. Moreover, STP needs to be reviewed, since the policy makers are coming up with new proposals not mentioned in the STP," he added.
SM Salehuddin, additional executive director of DTCB, informed that funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), a Japanese team will give a revised master plan with the vision of introducing mass rapid transit (MRT) focussing on metro.
"It will be a metro-based master plan. Moreover, we are focusing on capacity building of different government agencies concerned to ensure the optimal use of existing roads, highways and flyovers. We will also initiate awareness generating programmes on traffic rules," he added.
Comments