The terrible traffic jams
If one looks at Dhaka during various hours of the day, between 8am and 11am, 12pm, 2pm, 7pm, and starting from 7pm right up to 10:30 to 11pm on certain roads from the top of a tall building, he or she would likely see Dhaka city at a standstill
Abrar Ahmed
Ashraf Khan, a student of Dhaka University, once went to the DU campus in the middle of the night on a private car, from his residence in Uttara. It took me only 25 minutes, says an astonished Ashraf. But every morning, to make it to his 10am class, Ashraf starts at seven, and barely makes it on time.
If one looks at Dhaka during various hours of the day, between 8am and 11am, 12pm, 2pm, 7pm, and starting from 7pm right up to 10:30 to 11pm on certain roads from the top of a tall building, he or she would likely see Dhaka city at a standstill.
All the roads are clogged. The cars are stuck bumper to bumper, the engines release a tremendous amount of heat, drivers honk their horns incessantly, some of the old vehicles let go black smoke, vehicles break lanes and try and enter the ones that are moving faster, says Ashraf.
On most mornings I skip classes and the ones that I do attend, I am too drained out to follow anything, he says.
Reaching Dhaka University from Uttara takes about the same time required to reach Tangail from Dhaka through the highways.
Travelling in Dhaka city has virtually become a nightmare.
At rush hour, a distance of three to four kilometres can take about an hour to reach. Destinations like Gulisthan, Motijheel, Old Dhaka, Maghbazar, Malibagh, Gulshan, Banani and Dhanmondi are nightmares for commuters from any point in the city. Especially frustrating are the points Hotel Sonargaon crossing, the road in front of the Prime Ministers office, Maghbazar, Mouchak, Malibagh, Khilghaon, Rampura, Elephant Road, Science Laboratory, Green Road, Jatrabari, Sayedabad, Mohakhali and old parts of the city mainly at Dholaikhal, Postagola, Bangshal, Chowkbazar and Imamganj.
People miss important appointments, people are late for work, children and old people fall sick, not to mention the painful site that most of us choose to ignore a blaring ambulance stuck in the middle of a traffic jam trying desperately to find a way.
The heat released from the engines, especially the private cars that use air conditioners, increase the overall temperature of the city. Continued exposure to pollution from the streets during traffic jams, will have grave consequences in the future health of these people, say experts. The economy, meanwhile, is losing out hugely because of traffic jams. Government officials estimate a loss of around Tk 150 billion annually because of traffic jams.
The uncoordinated road digging by Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), Dhaka Electric Supply Authority (DESA), Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB), Titas Gas and other utility service providers together make reasons for further road congestion.
Each day around 80 trains enter and exit the city, which causes six hours halt of traffic in total through each level crossing. Such types of level crossing create intolerable congestion at Magbazar, Mohakhali, Staff road, Karwan Bazar and other places.
According to the office of traffic control there are 76,000 licensed rickshaws in Dhaka though the actual figure is above 600,000. An additional 100,000 rickshaws enter the city during Eid just to make additional income, says one senior traffic official. Moreover, every year some 30,000 new vehicles are registered. And while officially there are 160,000 motorised vehicles registered, of which 4,800 consist of buses, the unauthorised numbers of vehicles are much higher. Last year, more than 60,000 motorised vehicles were added to the existing number of unregistered vehicles. Among them, nearly 50,000 were found in Dhaka alone, says Sayedur.
Although bus counters have been opened by many in the recent past but their unplanned establishments have resulted in the buses occupying road spaces that otherwise are essential for traffic flow. The buses stop randomly to pick up and drop passengers creating traffic obstructions .
Most foot-over bridges and underpasses remain unutilised by the pedestrians reasoning dark and dodgy atmosphere inside as billboards block view from outside. Unhygienic passageways, steep stairs and pathway encroached by hawkers make it difficult to move on the bridge, say pedestrians. Although these all are true, the bottom line of the fact is that people are habituated and thus love using the shortest way by crossing over the street. Now, that it poses risk for the vehicles and create unnecessary traffic block let apart risking the pedestrians lives, are not their concern.
Many compressed natural gas (CNG) refuelling stations and petrol pumps are located near to the intersections that disturb the streets when large queues of vehicles break into the road. Although there is rule to set up refuelling stations having vacant spaces to accommodate thirty vehicles to wait inside the compound, it has been overlooked.
The government is to blame for the chaos when it approves universities, commercial establishments, garment factories, schools, clinics and wholesale kitchen markets at the residential areas that make life mess for those living in the community.
A lot of the plush shopping malls in the city have resulted in illegal road occupation by vehicles. Between Panthapath and Sonargaon intersection the traffic jam at anytime of the day is horrible because of the citys biggest shopping mall constructed in the area, urban researchers allege.
And though the market offers a parking space of 1,200 vehicles, here too the people are habituated and love to park them on the street so that they can come out of the market and drive away fast without having to go down the parking space, pay for the parking ticket and look for the driver.
Officials at the traffic department believe that the fines for traffic violations are too meagre to raise fear for the violators. The red signal violation fine is only Tk 250 and illegal parking is only Tk 200.
Outside the mall and right beside the road, occupation of tea-stalls and shops make difficult for pedestrians to use the pathway.
We should not establish new commercial establishments in the already congested places. High-rise commercial structures should be built outside city to keep the balance, says professor Nurul Islam Nazem of the Centre for Urban Studies.
He regrets saying, that traffic congestion problem is discouraging lot of international investors. I had once recommended a foreign business delegation to setup their factory at Ishwardi, because the place has effective gas supply and good communication with Dhaka. However, that group totally felt discouraged because, although it should take three and half hours to reach there without any stoppage but because of traffic jams, its completely unknown how much time it would actually require.
The writer is a free lance journalist
