STP won’t be able to solve Dhaka’s traffic problem, says mayor
Taib Ahmed
The Dhaka City Corporation is yet to take any visible steps to reduce the insufferable traffic congestion and consequent jams in the capital; so far it has only formed a committee though five days have elapsed since the premier asked the mayor to take immediate steps to solve the traffic problem.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday called Mayor Sadek Hossain, also a prominent BNP leader, and enquired about the measures the DCC might take to relieve commuters of the spiralling traffic congestion.
The mayor, soon after the meeting, formed a committee, making the DCC’s chief engineer the convener, to find the ways and means to reduce traffic jams.
The committee will sit with experts and persons concerned today (Thursday) to devise a plan for an immediate solution to the problem.
‘Though the PM wants very much to give the people respite from traffic snarls, she has no magic wand to wave and solve the problem overnight, especially as the traffic problem has become far more acute over the last 20 to 25 years due to lack of proper planning and mismanagement,’ the mayor told New Age on Tuesday.
Attributing the traffic congestion to lack of enforcement of the existing laws, the mayor said, ‘None of the agencies are working effectively as there is no coordination among them. Rajuk is supposed to check construction of buildings that do not have sufficient parking space, but that rule is not being enforced.’
‘None of the projects we take up is implemented within the stipulated time due to the involvement of different agencies and departments of the government,’ said the mayor. ‘Had there been a coordinated city authority which would only be responsible to the Prime Minister’s Office, the problems would have been solved.’
Moreover the DCC is unable to implement various projects due to lack of sufficient budget and manpower, he said.
‘The Strategic Transport Plan won’t be able to reduce traffic jam in the city as it does not specify what should be done and where. The STP won’t be workable in a city like Dhaka; it can be effective only in the cities of developed countries,’ the mayor told reporters.
‘A comprehensive and coordinated fifty-year-long plan instead of the 20-year-long Strategic Transport Plan to free the capital city from the insufferable traffic gridlock is needed here,’ he added. ‘The plan will have to be materialised under the direct supervision of the prime minister.’
The mayor also suggested empowerment of the DCC to make it the sole authority, like the city government of other countries, which will work under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister’s Office and which will coordinate the work of all the other agencies like Rajuk and Dhaka WASA.
Courtesy: newagebd.com
