Dhaka city trapped in traffic jam

Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Annisul Huq yesterday likened the capital to a patient in intensive care unit and said immediate attention and action were needed to help it recover.   

Regarding Dhaka's traffic situation, he, however, said the problem would be addressed to some extent by April next year.

At a roundtable discussion on how to ease traffic congestion in Dhaka, he said he had identified six points from Gazipur to Hatirjheel to set up double loops to facilitate traffic movement without interruption. The DNCC will require additional space along the highways to install the loops.

“Once we install the loops, intersections will be sealed,” the mayor said while unveiling his short-term plan to improve the traffic situation.

He requested Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, who was present at the programme organised by the DNCC, to allocate the required land.

Obaidul assured all-out support would be extended to the city corporation, and suggested that the mayor focus on resolving the issues without caving in to pressure from interest groups.

Speaking of the area he is in charge of, Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Mohammad Sayeed Khokon said Shahbagh to Uttara and Moghbazar to Uttara are two important routes.

The construction of metro rail will begin early next year but by then Mouchak flyover will not be completed.

“Traffic system will break down if no alternative is planned now,” Khokon said, asking people concerned to think over the matter.   
Speakers at the discussion suggested freeing footpaths of hawkers and rehabilitating them.

Annisul said he had been facing difficulties in reclaiming footpaths as many influential people were behind the hawkers.

Only 10 to 15 percent people travel in private cars every day but they occupy 85 percent of the roads in the capital, said Bijoy Bhushan Paul, director of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority.

The number of public buses should be increased to ease traffic congestion, said architect Iqbal Habib, requesting the mayors to set up bus stops and passenger sheds.

Shamim Uz-Zaman Basunia, president of the Institution of Engineers Bangladesh, criticised VIPs, army personnel and lawmakers, saying they often take the wrong side of the roads causing traffic jam.  

While giving a presentation, Prof Md Shamsul Hoque said grid pattern of roads facilitates smooth traffic movement but in case of Dhaka, it is not possible.

“Gradual shifting of the capital has become inevitable.”

Additional Commissioner (traffic) Khandaker Golam Faruk and Chairman of Urban Habitat Ltd Architect Tanwir Nawaz also presented papers on traffic congestion and its solutions.