Chief Adviser (CA) Fakhruddin Ahmed yesterday said the government is thinking about mass transit in the capital so that a large number of people can move at a time smoothly.
He said though implementation of such transport system will take a long time, the decision should be taken now. He mentioned some options of mass transit including underground train and human hauler.
The head of the caretaker government made the remarks while inaugurating the implementation work of Airport Road-Rokeya Sarani (Agargaon-Mirpur 10) link road on the western side ofTejgaon old airport.
The 2.6-kilometer-long and 53-foot-wide four-lane link road will connect the roads of east and west
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sides of the old airport joining in front of the Chief Adviser's Office and Agargaon area passing inside the peripheral side of the old airport.
The link road project, involving around Tk 25 crore is expected to be completed this October, two months ahead of the targeted time.
The road is being constructed by the corps of engineers of Bangladesh Army with Dhaka City Corporation as implementation organisation and the Local Government Division of LGRD and cooperatives ministry as initiator.
The objective of the project is to establish connection between east and west parts ofTejgaon old airport and reduce traffic congestion on roads adjacent to the old airport.
Advisers, special assistants to the chief adviser, chiefs of the three services and civil and military officials were present at the function.
BUET teacher Shamsul Huq briefed about 10 projects on road and bridge communications in the capital, including Airport-Rokeya Sarani. of which some are ongoing and some are under process.
Two other BUET teachers--
Mojibur Rahman and Jubaer-bin-Alam -also briefed about Dhaka City communications networks and some projects.
The ongoing projects have been taken up under the personal initiative of die chief adviser for reducing nagging traffic congestion in the city.
The CA said the present government, besides other activities, is also giving attention to resolving traffic congestion.
He hoped that various policies and projects would be taken up under Strategic Transport Plan (STP) endorsed by the Council of Advisers
Referring to various ongoing projects of road-bridge communications in the capital, he said, “The objective of taking such initiative is to resolve the traffic congestion in a short time."
He said the government will also take initiative to construct underpasses.
Referring to Hatirjheel project in the city, he said the project is important both in respect of environment and reducing traffic jams. "The future generation will enjoy a beautiful environment of the lake being made out of the Hatirjheel."
Addressing the function, LGRD
Adviser M Anwarul Iqbal described the ongoing projects of road-and-bridge communications in the capital, some of which will be completed within this year, some by2009 and some by 2010.
He mentioned the projects like construction of road from Bijoy Sarani to Tejgaon commercial area, development of Hatirjheel area, including Begunbari canal, construction of link road from Zia Colony to Mirpur Cantonment, link-bridge between Banani and Gulshan lakes, construction of road from Mirpur Grameen Bank to Agargaon.
“East-west and north-south transport movement will be easy after completion of these projects," he told the function.
He also mentioned that the project for construction of Jatrabari-Gulistan flyover is being prepared anew as the project was canceled due to anomalies.
Emphasising the need for improving and expanding roads, the LGRD adviser said about 1.21 lakh new motorised vehicles adds up to the country’s transport pool every year, of which 37 thousand new registrations are taking place in Dhaka city alone.