Traffic congestion perspective: Is Dhaka a modern city?

Dr. Forqan Uddin Ahmed :

Dhaka is the heart of Bangladesh. This Dhaka city is highly distorted by terrible troubles like traffic jam. This Dhaka is not only our capital city but also the life-source of our economy. This trouble is very terrific in nature. This disturbs the normal lifestyle of human life. This disrupts the routine work of our daily life. People become handicapped and helpless to it. This is a threat to our social and economic mobilization. This stops effective time management system. This is equally alarming to all service providers, patients, students, businessmen and other income earners. How long this situation will prevail? If this continues for a long time, our society will be damaged, economy will collapse. It is the high time to identify the root causes and the remedies.
All the megacities in the world suffer from traffic jam at certain hours of the day. But what we have in Dhaka is not traffic jam, it is total traffic chaos and mismanagement. In recent times, the government has taken some positive steps such as widening the roads, expansion of footpaths, and building flyovers and overpasses but yet, there was no improvement in the traffic situation. Cities are the main engines of our economic growth. Even though Dhaka is only one percent of the country’s total area, its contribution to GDP is 36 percent, and it has created 44 percent of the country’s total employment. Considering the economic potential of Dhaka, let us review its existing traffic situation and also possible solutions. Unpleasant as it may sound, it is not only in Dhaka, the whole country is full of undisciplined drivers and pedestrians who have no respect for traffic rules and regulations. In the modern world, traffic is managed by the auto signaling light, and one can hardly see a policeman. Whereas in Dhaka, in different important junctions, along with auto signaling light there are at least two policemen, including one sergeant. Still they are unable to manage the traffic.
For traffic jam the crossing points of roads are very vulnerable. They are not well managed. Due to these mismanaged crossing points vehicles normal race is highly disturbed and consequently the average speed is reduced to 10-12 km per hour. Illegal parking is what has become a major cause of traffic jam and this too much due to the lax law enforcement. Roads, lanes & by-lanes are narrowed down by illegal parking which triggers gridlock. Another nuisance which also contributes to traffic congestion is the growing trend to drive on wrong lane, even in front of the law enforcers. The roads surrounding major shopping mall, commercial centers like garments factory, govt. offices, bank areas, school & colleges have been experiencing severe traffic gridlock for all these irregularities. Again, poor planning for movement of various vehicles like truck, bus, mini bus, pick-up, rickshaw, van etc is also responsible for traffic congestion. Moreover, a good number of vehicles without fitness are frequently on road, which cause a miserable condition in road for the passengers. Again, mal-intention of the drivers, staffs and other dishonest fellows is the reason for such crisis in this sector.
The modern city dwellers are victims of pollutions in air, water and noise. Noise pollution is the worst enemy which makes life in a city hellish. Harsh cries, horrid honing of air-horns, outrageous blaring of songs and talk through loud-speakers, drum-beating and street singing through microphone tell on the physical and psychological functioning of human organism resulting in deadly diseases like by hypertension and cardio-vascular ailments. Problems of city dwellers in Bangladesh leads untold miseries. This problem must be solved with modern and scientific measures. The issues of urbanization are very important and challenging for Bangladesh. This requires judicious policies and right planning at right time. Otherwise, we will not be able to get the minimum benefits from urban area. Although govt. has got the major role to play on this issues we have also some part to play. All of us must be sincere in tackling the urban problems.
One of the ugliest sides of a city is traffic jam and Dhaka city is in its ugliest shape in recent times. Though traffic jam is an old fear for the people living in the city in the context of the post-pandemic reopening of schools and full swing resumption of offices in the capital, it has turned into a nightmare for the public at large and transport authorities as well. Office attendees, students, teachers, along with other private and public job holders are the sufferers of this ill-favored situation. Lately, there have been incidents of students missing their exams and job holders missing out on important official meetings due to the unprecedented nature and extent of traffic congestion in Dhaka. There are many reasons behind the intolerable traffic jam in the city and one of them is the increasing number of individual private cars and transports. Often, these vehicles do not have proper fitness certificates. Schools and college buses are quite rare now, for which students are using their private transports for commuting to schools during peak hours. According to a statement of Assistant Commissioner, Traffic Zone of Dhaka Metropolitan Police to the Business Standard, almost twenty thousand private cars are dropping and picking up the students of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College situated in Baily Road alone, which is contributing to heavy traffic. Similar scenes can be seen around other schools and colleges as well. To be frank, there can be no single, universally applicable solution to the traffic problem, so allow me to drop my two cents in this regard with some recommendations that I think we can implement. While I’m just a citizen and no expert on traffic management, I think these and other solutions as offered by experts indicate the sense of urgency that must go into any effort.
Dhaka is one of the most populated cities in the world with extremely inadequate road coverage, so bringing discipline on its roads and reducing traffic jam would be a herculean task. We can only tackle the challenges of maintaining this massive population hub by sharing and correctly utilizing our resources. We must acknowledge that this cannot go on for long, especially after Bangladesh’s attaining eligibility for graduation from the Least Developed Country (LDC) bracket. Dhaka, as a city, needs to get ready for the progress achieved on the country’s economic front. And to do so, decentralizing it is an urgent necessity. We need to relocate its industrial units, particularly the readymade garment factories and tanneries, and some government establishments to areas such as Bhairab, Ghorashal, Mymensingh, Tangail, Comilla, Bogra, etc. and also improve the connectivity of our highways, railways, and waterways so that people can smoothly commute among these areas. This will not only change the socioeconomic scenario of Dhaka, but also of the entire country.
In this regard, Dhaka Metropolitan Police, City Corporation and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority all three agencies must take comprehensive action plan as package program by which only suffering may be reduced. Coordinated and combined operational work force need to be detailed remove the irregularities and to take under law abiding obligations. I think the problem lies in our behavior pattern. Many of us break the law in full knowledge of its existence and many don’t even realize that they are doing something terribly wrong. This is a social problem and needs to be addressed accordingly. The government, with the help of social organizations, can undertake a project to create necessary awareness by teaching ethical driving, road crossing, traffic management with audio-visual display, images, etc. The electronic media can play a huge role in raising the awareness by showing short documentaries on the subject. All this should be part of a long-term project and not just an eye-wash during the Traffic Week. Experts say the congestion may be reduced by 40 percent just by improving the management of traffic and public consciousness.
Before we conclude, the congestion in Dhaka city are always fostering its citizen with the following questions. Can AI solve the insanity of Dhaka’s traffic? Can the metro rail be a great equalizer? Will we get mobile network connectivity inside the metro rail? Is MRT enough? Dhaka needs better planning to rescue its traffic. In context of traffic congestion, Is Dhaka a modern city? Is Traffic congestion the name of terrific trouble in Dhaka city? With all these, we can say that to make Dhaka livable the problem of traffic congestion needs to be solved immediately.

Former Deputy Director General, Bangladesh Ansar & VDP
Writer, columnist and researcher