Mayor Atiq views Dhaka's traffic congestion as critical challenge

Traffic congestion in the capital city of Dhaka should be viewed as a critical challenge rather than merely as a problem, according to Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Md Atiqul Islam.

"For various reasons, such as climate change, people are coming to Dhaka every day from different parts of the country. And to deal with the challenge, an integrated management is now necessary," he said at the end of the first day of the two-day transportation summit at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

Speaking to The Business Standard, Atiqul Islam deplored the fact that Dhaka is still reeling from traffic jams when many cities in the developed world are moving towards eco-friendly and energy-efficient public transport systems.

"Solving the traffic congestion problem in the city is a real challenge."

He said the World Bank has held out the assurance of financing about 50 electric buses for the streets of Dhaka, similar to those in the world's developed cities. Initially, the electric buses will operate from Mirpur to the Bangla Motor section centred on metro rail stations.

At the World Bank summit, the mayor said the Dhaka North plans to introduce energy-efficient and environmentally friendly electric buses. The World Bank will provide loan assistance of around Tk1600 crore to Dhaka North for the management of station-centric corridors of the metro rail.

The mayor further said that the biggest problem in Dhaka is population density – 4,900 per square kilometre. And there are only 7% of roads for about one and a half crore people in Dhaka North against the required minimum of 25%. 

Atiqul Islam said that the number of private cars in Dhaka is 33 times higher than the number of buses.

"We have taken some short- and medium-term steps. We have planned to run buses of 22 companies on 24 routes under the Dhaka bus route rationalisation and already three routes are in operation," he added.

Several recommendations emerged from the conference for inclusive public transport management, including pedestrian-friendly sidewalks and separate cycle lanes on every road.

At the conference, representatives of different cities in different countries were present and shared their experiences and opinions on developing modern communication systems.

Guangzhe Chen, World Bank Vice President for Infrastructure; Ani Dasgupta, President & CEO, World Resources Institute; Bertrand Piccard, Serial Explorer and Environmentalist; Alex Johnson, Head of the Accra Metro Assembly Department of Transport; Mana Celidonio, Secretary of Transport of the City of Rio de Janeiro, and others spoke at the conference.