Bangladesh Road Transport Authority has given permission to the Army Welfare Trust to put into service 400 taxicabs in Dhaka and Chittagong cities in next four months from August 1.
The permission was given after only one company had been selected to ply taxicabs in Dhaka after the authority had invited applications from different companies for licence to operate taxicabs in the country’s two major cities.
Meanwhile, representatives of the companies which failed to become eligible to run taxicab service alleged that the initiative would not be successful if the government does not give the permission to at least four other companies.
‘We’ve given permission to the Army Welfare Trust this month to put into service 250 taxicabs in Dhaka and 150 taxicabs in Chittagong within next four months,’ said BRTA director (engineering) Mohammad Saiful Hoque.
He also the government has a plan to put into service about 6,000 taxicabs and any eligible company fulfilling the criteria would be given similar permission.
On behalf of the AWT, an application was submitted to BRTA engineering department on Wednesday urging the transport authority to reduce the registration fee of the taxicabs.
According to BRTA, a taxicab having a minimum capacity of 1,500CC would have to pay registration fee of Tk 60,000 including income tax.
Earlier, the communications ministry on July 14 this year had given permission to Toma Construction Limited to put into service 250 taxicabs in Dhaka city after it fulfilled all the conditions of Taxicab Service Guidelines of 2010.
‘Recently, we have forwarded some suggestions of Toma Construction to the ministry for consideration. The company wants re-fixation of the fare rate of taxicabs mentioned in the guideline as it was formed in 2010,’ said Saiful Hoque.
On May 23 this year, the BRTA invited applications from companies interested to launch 6,740 air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned taxicabs in Dhaka city.
Eight companies — National Car Limited, Sarika Traders, Expressway Company, Meghna Cements Mills, Toma Construction Company, Ryan Consumers and Transport, Sigma Tel and Glorious Abashon Company — offered to launch taxicabs.
But only Toma Construction was able to fulfil the taxicab guidelines — having a paid-up capital of Tk 2.5 crore, own parking space with workshop for maintenance, radio communication network, vehicle tracking system and training facilities for drivers.
Glorious Abashon Company vice-chairman Esmet Ara Jasmin told New Age on Wednesday that they did not have their own space with workshop for maintenance but they had taken lease of a land in the city while applying for the permission to run taxicab service.
She said that it would cost about Tk 13 crore to put into service about 250 cabs while it would need about Tk 50-60 crore to buy a space to maintain the cabs.
‘So who will come for this business? If we get the permission then it would be our headache to take care of our cabs,’ she added.
Another managerial level official of another taxicab company alleged that a ‘game was being played’ in this taxicab permission process.
In May, the government relaxed some clauses in the guidelines as none of the three bidding companies could fulfil the conditions in 2012.
In 2002, the government had allowed several companies to run 11,260 cabs in the city, of which only 2,000 to 2,500 are currently plying.
-With New Age input
