Traffic jams turn severe in Dhaka city

The traffic situation in Dhaka city has become severe with the number of city service buses being reduced due to ongoing mega-construction projects and the trade fair, causing massive miseries to commuters. 
Commuters have been wasting valuable work hours on roads for traffic gridlocks on almost all the capital roads in recent times. 
Leaders of Dhaka Road Transport Owners’ Association said that the number of city service buses on Mirpur route decreased sharply as many owners had withdrawn their buses after failing to make enough trips per day. 
Urban planners and transportation experts blamed lack of coordination and professionalism as well as faulty plans for the situation. 
‘I am admitting that we did not discuss with the metro rail project and the trade fair authorities for coordination of traffic management,’ said Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority executive director Syed Ahmed on Tuesday.
At present, piling works of Mass Rapid Transit Line-6, popularly known as metro rail on Uttara-Motijheel route, is going on in Agargaon area while a monthlong trade fair started in the same area on January 1. 
The two big arrangements in the same area have triggered huge traffic congestions in the city, which was worst in areas of Mirpur, Agargaon, Farmgate, Manik Mia Avenue, Mohammadpur, Shyamoli, Bijoy Sarani, Mohakhali, Gulshan, Banani, and Uttara. 
‘It took 4.5 hours for me to cross the distance between Uttara and Banglamotor on Monday due to huge congestions at every intersection,’ said Humayun Kabir, an Uttara resident. 
Commuters on the city’s Mirpur route alleged that since the start of metro rail construction, the lesser number of buses plying the streets had resulted in the rise of their ordeal to go through Rokeya Sarani area. 
Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s joint commissioner Mosleh Uddin Ahmed told New Age that vehicular movements had become slow with the launch of development works at Agargaon. 
Many vehicles were coming to Agargaon for the trade fair, he said. 
Due to these reasons, he said, the traffic situation becomes severe every day between 5:00pm and 9:00pm at Rokeya Sarani, Bijoy Sarani, Manik Mia avenue, Mirpur, Shyamoli and Farmgate. ‘The situation is likely to continue until the trade fair ends,’ he said. 
DRTOA secretary general Khandaker Enayet Ullah said that the number of trips covered by city bus services on Mirpur route decreased when the utility service started metro rail works in November 2016. 
‘Earlier a bus could make up to five trips [a day] which has now come down to two trips,’ he said, adding that as a result, many owners were withdrawing their buses from the route to avoid financial loss. 
He claimed that they had earlier urged the authorities to divert private cars and rickshaws from Rokeya Sarani to facilitate bus movement, but it has not been implemented. 
Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited’s chief engineer Abdul Baquee Miah said that the bus owners had agreed to run only minibuses on Rokeya Sarani. 
SM Salehuddin, former executive director of Dhaka Transport Coordination Board, said that the traffic department should have taken initiatives to regulate vehicular movements in metro rail’s project areas. 
The situation would become worse during the main construction works, he said. 
Urban planner Mubasser Hossain blamed the lack of specialists working for the authorities concerned was the main reason for not having coordination in managing the city’s traffic.
Both Salehuddin and Mubasser suggested that the government should implement its earlier promise to hold the trade fair outside the capital (at Purbachal) to avoid the month-long traffic ordeal. 
DTCA executive director Syed Ahmed said that the situation would not improve overnight as the metro rail works would continue. 
He admitted that they had not discussed with trade fair authorities to coordinate traffic movements during the fair. 

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net