Traffic congestion in Dhaka eats up around 5 million working hours every day and the average speed of vehicles during rush hours has come down to 5kmph, according to the Accident Research Institute of Buet.
The congestion causes an annual loss of between Tk 20,000 crore and Tk 55,000 crore, says ARI, citing findings of organisations working on the issue.
“However, about 50 to 70 percent of the losses can be avoided through proper actions,” ARI Director Prof Moazzem Hossain told a roundtable yesterday.
“Sixty percent of Tk 37,000 crore [half way between Tk 20,000 crore and Tk 55,000 crore] can be saved by those actions,” he said,
Talking to The Daily Star later, Moazzem, a teacher at Buet's Civil Engineering department, said the ARI came up with the estimates analysing available data, including that of Government's Revised Strategic Transport Plan (RSTP) and Dhaka Urban Transport Network Development Study.
ARI and Road Safety Foundation, an organisation working for safe roads and driving, organised the roundtable titled “Traffic Congestion in Dhaka City: Economic and Health Problems” at the ARI building.
In July last year, a World Bank analysis had said in the last 10 years, average traffic speed in Dhaka dropped from 21kmph (kilometres per hour) to 7kmph, which was slightly above the average walking speed.
The speed may drop to 4kmph by 2035, slower than the walking speed, it added.
"Congestion in Dhaka eats up 3.2 million work hours per day. This cost the economy billions of dollars every year," said the analysis.
Citing RSTP, Moazzem told yesterday's roundtable that the people of Dhaka generate 36 million trips per day. Thirty five percent of those are work trips, he said.
Buses are used for 36.97 percent of those trips while rickshaw for 37.69 percent, he said, adding, “The government should give more emphasis on the bus services.”
Around 6,000 buses, including many run-down ones, are currently operating in the capital. It is possible to cater for passengers with even half or less than half of the vehicles, if the system is managed properly.
The transport expert emphasised on forming a separate state-owned company for the regulatory work of the services.
He also said the public transport sector should be run directly by the government and it should give subsidies for the development of the sector.
He also said the government was giving more emphasis on metro rail and similar projects involving costly services, instead of giving that on the cost-effective ones.
