Kazi Zahidul Hasan :Traffic congestion in capital city Dhaka is taking away lots of working hours of its residents causing a loss of about Tk 300 crore a day, experts said.But no effective step has been taken by the authorities concerned to ease the gridlock and reduce the huge economic losses, they observed. “Traffic jam in the city is worsening day by day but no effective step is in sight to get rid of the gridlock,” Prof Dr Mizanur Rahman, a transport expert, told The New Nation on Friday.He said traffic congestion causes huge economic losses by eating up travel time and burning of excess fuel. It also causes health injury to the travellers, environmental damage and road accidents.Referring to the latest study conducted by the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Prof Rahman said, traffic congestion in capital Dhaka causes a loss of about Tk 300 crore a day affecting daily movement of 73 per cent of city residents. “The city has 1.60 crore working people and one has to fix one and a half hours in traffic congestion out of 2.35 hours travel time per day,” he said quoting the report. Prof Rahman said lack of transport infrastructure, poor traffic management, illegal car parking, too little footpath and pedestrians’ facility and absence of separate lanes for car, bus and other vehicles are mainly responsible for the city’s nagging traffic jam.”The number of vehicles has now increased manifold in Dhaka but the number of roads has not increased compared to vehicles, creating more traffic congestion,” he added.He, however, expressed skeptical view over the ongoing projects to ease the city’s traffic congestion. “Flyovers or overpasses may not help toease the city’s nagging traffic jam unless adequate roads, bypass lanes and circular roads are built in a planned way.” Prof Rahman further said three flyovers remained operational in the capital but no improvement is in sight to ease the city’s traffic congestion.”Traffic congestion is taking a heavy toll on the city residents by eating up their valuable working hours every day. The economic cost of the traffic jam is also huge,” Prof Shamsul Haque, another expert, told The New Nation on Friday He said: “The traffic congestion is also seen as the main obstacle for the foreign investment. The foreign investors are not showing much interest in visiting Bangladesh due to the nagging traffic jam in the capital”. Prof Haque suggested improvement of public transport systems, especially bus services by allocating a separate lane for passenger buses and also designated stoppages in the capital to reduce congestion and thus economic losses.”A coordinated effort by the departments concerned is also a must to ease the city’s traffic congestion,” he added.
