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City streets crammed full of vehicles

Rizanuzzman Laskar
Traffic on the capital's busiest thoroughfares has increased by around one-tenth in 2007 with about 120 thousand new motorised vehicles hitting the streets during the period.
The total number of motorised vehicles in the city now stands at a staggering 1.05 million crammed into some 220-kilometre road creating one of the highest traffic densities in the world.
The statistics are based on the number of vehicles registered with the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) that closely monitors the vehicles plying on the streets.
"Number of vehicles, especially private cars and motorbikes has been increasing in a staggering pace. Each year 20 to 30 percent new vehicles enter city streets and this rate is increasing every year," said an official at BRT A.
According to the statistics, the number of vehicles registered with BRTA was 80 thousand in 2006 and 65 thousand in the year before.
"Total number of vehicles registered in 2005 was around 65 thousand. The fact that it almost doubled in 2007 gives you an idea how rapidly the number is increasing,” the official said.
The number of newly registered private cars in 2007 totalled to 12 thousand. Number of new motorbikes and microbuses was around 5 thousand and 85 thou-
sand respectively, sources said.
In tune with the trend, around five thousand private cars have already registered with the BRTA during the first three months of the current year. Around 50 to 60 vehicles are applying for registration on a daily basis, sources said.
This rapid increase in the number of vehicles along with poor road infrastructure makes Dhaka one of the most densely traffic congested cities in the world.
In his report, former teacher
from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) Md Asadullah Khan, says: "The total number of vehicles on the city road is now at least five times the number it was in 1990. The weight of freight moved through the city roads in recent times has jumped to at least 50 times in this period and the number of passengers has leapfrogged to 70 times."
"Both new and reconditioned vehicles have been cluttering up the city streets in alarming num-
bers. The gap between the number of vehicles and the road capacity in the city is widening with each passing day," said Jahangir Alam, an urban architect and former town planner at Rajuk.
Meanwhile, city dwellers are going through the ordeals of tailbacks during the peak hours of the day while town planners and government authorities, finding no solution to the unbearable sufferings, blame years of unplanned urbanisation for it.
"The core of the problem is that the motorised transport will create chaos if it is just allowed to grow," said an official at the traffic department of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).
According to DMP sources, the city now has only 7.9 percent road capacity against a standard 25 percent.
"The current number of roads in Dhaka city is not enough to accommodate the vehicles operating every day. Apart from that, the width of Dhaka thoroughfares is not appropriate, which results in severe traffic problems," the official pointed out.
"Under ideal circumstances, at least 25 percent the total surface area of a city should be earmarked for parking lots," said Jahangir Alam. "Unfortunately Dhaka has only around 6-7 percent of surface area as parking space," he said, adding that Dhaka city is slowly becoming similar to once infamous Bangkok.
"Bangkok has always been infamous for its traffic problems. Commuters sometimes spend two to three hours on the street for a distance that usually takes thirty minutes. Dhaka is becoming equally daunting for the commuters these days," he said.
Experts believe if the current rate of increase in the number of vehicles continues, Dhaka's (ratlie will go up by a quarter within the next 18 months or so while the road facilities will remain virtually unchanged.