Dhaka to get metro rail, expressways

Dhaka: Bangladesh will build an underground metro and elevated expressways to ease traffic congestion in this capital city of 14 million, officials said on Friday.

They said the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday decided to invite pre-qualification bids for a metro rail and elevated expressway at an estimated cost of 150 billion takas (Dh8.02 billion).

The cabinet division officials said the cabinet committee meeting chaired by Finance Minister A.M.A. Muhith asked the Communications Ministry to float an open invitation for tenders.

They said the projects would be implemented preferably under a public-private partnership, a new window floated in the current budget to attract more private capital and expertise from home and abroad.

The government opted for the metro rail system and elevated expressway after other measures to put the city traffic in order failed.

A recent report said traffic jams halt traffic movement in Bangladesh's capital for 7.5 hours daily, causing economic losses in terms of fuel to the tune of 100 billion takas annually, a third of the country's annual development expenditure.

Tailbacks

"Our study found the economic losses just in terms of fuel cost amounted to 100 billion takas annually due to the traffic jam in Dhaka," R&H engineer Shantosh Kumar Roy, who carried out the study, told Gulf News recently.

Residents of Dhaka complain that the traffic jams were growing bigger every day and a government order resetting the office timing, staggering office hours under different categories, did not help much.

"On a four-lane road, a single traffic signal halts an average 24,000 vehicles ... we immediately need to construct overpasses to ease the situation alongside a campaign to reduce the city population distributing the civic facilities elsewhere," Roy said.

Police last month launched a "clean street" campaign to ease the gridlock which even halted Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina's motorcade on her way to her office, delaying her schedules despite extra efforts for her smooth passage.

A police report last month suggested a series of steps including the metro rail and elevated expressways.

Permanent solution

"Otherwise, the traffic policemen could reduce the traffic jam by as much as 10 per cent through their hard labour, but a permanent solution to the problem will not be possible," a senior police official said.

According to some reports, Dhaka has only 7-8 per cent of the ideal road infrastructure and studies also show "intersection" or street management problems" are intensifying the crisis.

The R&H study, however, suggested "urgent" steps to reducing Dhaka's 14 million population, particularly by relocating the garments industries and the civic and government offices elsewhere.

The police report identified the inadequacy of the road infrastructure as the prime factor causing traffic congestion, saying in 2007-08 fiscal year alone, 87,500 vehicles hit the road and the following year they crossed 100,000.

"As a matter of fact, on the other hand, only one kilometre of road was constructed during the past three years," it said.

The 400-year-old city of Dhaka earned a bad reputation for its notorious traffic jams years ago and the situation has since been aggravated, affecting the public life, businesses and emergency services.