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The traffic commentary

Nihad Chowdhury
MY article is in response to the recently published column "Spinning our wheels" by Mr. Nasim Manzur. Instead of simply agreeing with all the facts and figures given by the aforementioned writer, I would also like to reiterate some of the problems and possible solutions to solve this "metro-crisis." Although, I am an expatriate residing in New Jersey, I spent my entire childhood in Dhaka and, therefore, my article will be biased towards the capital.
Mr. Manzur has pointed out Beijing's $ 28.1 billion injection to reduce traffic congestion during the Olympic Games. 1 would like to add that there are various driving restrictions in place for the games as well. For example, according to The New York Times, almost 70% of the estimated 300,000 cars registered to the Chinese government in the city will be off the roads.
Along with that, trucks will be forbidden to enter the city for two months during the Olympics and the Paralympics soon after. That is a drop of almost 45% of total traffic according to Mr. Zhou Zhengyu, a spokesman for the city's traffic committee. In Dhaka's case, such a drop in vehicular transportation would be impracticable (unless we get the next Olympics!).
According to a survey carried out by Democracy Watch, a majority of respondents identified worsening roads and unplanned repairs as the main causes of traffic jams. It is the respondents' belief that the software behind the package (i.e. legal framework, planning, management, etc) rather than the hardware (i.e. brick and mortar stuff), needs expansion.
From my perspective, the other
State Parkway, I believe the construction of a super-highway is a very viable solution. Although this may seem contradictory to the previous mentioned views regarding more roads, I believe that traffic and the masses should be directed not only around the city, but also out of id
Just envision a miniature Asian Highway within Bangladesh itself, “Fd’nning®fi¥ '(We
Lalmonirhat to Cox's Bazar. Even though a mammoth creation as such would be expensive, if toll-booths are placed in every exit to a district the returns would be an annuity of sorts. The main purpose would be to allow people to live outside Dhaka and yet have access to all the conveniences of the city.
We agree that most commuters do spend half their journey complaining about the gridlock and road
reasons behind these gridlocks are the simultaneous presence of motorised and non-motorised vehicles on the same roads and traffic mismanagement. To handle the first situation, the government has definitely been on the dot by banning rickshaws on several important roads. But, for the traffic mismanagement part, I believe there is room for improvement, especially in hotspots such as the intersections in Motijheel and Gulshan. But, the alternation of the Bengali temper and the education of a traffic sergeant, that's another matter altogether.
In actuality, as well as peoples' views, Dhaka seriously lacks alternative modes of transportation for its burgeoning populace. As Prof. Nabi mentioned in his article in The Daily Star, and to voice the opinion of thousands of belligerent commuters, a Mass Rapid TYansit system is definitely needed. But, instead of focusing on only the "billion dollar metro system," why don't we also consider the numerous water bodies within the city?
With a little collaboration between the city officials and various affluent entrepreneurs, there are many lakes, not to mention the Buriganga river, that may provide a meaningful substitute for cars and buses. For example, in Amsterdam the city provides boats such as The Canal Bus and the Museumboot (The Museum Boat) to commute in and around the city. If geographers' predictions are correct, both Dhaka and Amsterdam will be underwater within the next 40 odd years. Well, I suppose the Dutch seem to be quite prepared for the catastrophe already.
Finally, from the perspective of a resident of New Jersey, the state with the famous TUrnpike and the Garden
conditions. But, to be quite honest, the same conversations are carried on in most other metropolises as well. The only advantage that Dhaka residents may have over other cities would mainly be the saturation levels ofthecityplanners.
Dhaka is fairly young in comparison to many other metropolitan cities Thus, it still has time to-'7^1b?aVe resources' to solve this problem. But, gargantuan funds are required to initiate all these beautiful ideas. But, an optimist would agree that with a little help from local businessmen, and foreign investments (pssst The World Bank and ADB), that too could solved.
Nihad Choudhury is a student al Rutgers University and welcomes all feedback at nihadchy@ynai.com.