Traffic congestion spoiling 5m working hours a day

Staff Correspondent:

Dhaka turns into a city, where the speed of transports is lesser than walking speed, thanks to the authorities concerned.

Not only commuters, the Prime Minister herself has recently annoyed over the intolerable traffic jams. Finding no way, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has instructed all the concerned to strictly monitor the traffic situation to prevent gridlocks.

Such standstill situation is not only cause of sufferings, but also cause of spoiling 5 million of working hours a day and losing over Tk 40,0000 million annually. Immense traffic congestion caused by mismanagement and lack of proper planning in traffic system, plying of unfit vehicular and dilapidated roads is blamed for the paralyzed situation.

The speed of public transports has now come down to below of 4 kmph during peak hours, where the average walking speed is also 5 kmph. In this situation, about 5 million working hours are being wasted every day. But, even 12 years ago, this speed was 21 kilometers per hour. The traffic congestion is the name of immense misery of the city dwellers. Due to such messy traffic congestion, not only the lives of ordinary people, but also the pocket of the state is constantly becoming empty. Valuable working hours are being wasted. Besides, waiting in traffic for a long time creates mental exhaustion.

Research said that, 5 million working hours are being wasted in city alone due to traffic congestion that financial loss is about Tk 40,0000 million per year.

Experts believe that, as the traffic situation worsens day by day instead of improving, the financial loss may be higher than the mentioned statistics.

A research on traffic congestion revealed taht, the speed of public transports during peak hours has come down to below of 4 kilometers per hour due to traffic congestion, while the average walking speed is also 5 kilometers. As a result, 5 million working hours are being wasted every day.

A research of Accident Research Institute (ARI) revealed that, according to the revised Strategic Transport Plan (RSTP) of 2015, about 36 million trips are made daily in Dhaka. It is to be mentioned that, a person getting on a vehicle and landing at a designated destination is considered a trip or journey. In 2004, the average speed limit on the roads of Dhaka was 21.2 km per hour. In 2009, it came to 6.8 kilometers per hour. Now the situation has worsened further.

Experts said, if the volume of vehicles continues to grow at the same rate and no steps are taken to reduce it, the speed of vehicles in this city will be below of 3 kilometers per hour by 2025, which is so less than the walking speed of people.

The average loss per year over Tk 40,0000 million:

In 2011, the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) calculated the amount of economic losses due to traffic jams in the capital, the amount of the loss was Tk 20,0000 million per year. In 2012, UNDP calculated the financial loss of traffic jams. The amount of damage increased to Tk 31,0000 million. According to the Bangladesh Board of Investment (BOI) in 2015, the annual economic loss due to traffic congestion in the capital was around Tk 10,00000 million, which was equivalent to 7 percent of the total GDP.

In 2016, a study was conducted by BRAC University’s BRAC Institute of Governance and Development with the entitled ‘Urban Situation-2018: Traffic congestion in Dhaka metropolis, from the perspective of governance system’. It was observed that, the speed limit of vehicles on this route during peak hours was 9 kilometers per hour. Due to this slowness, the time wasted by one passenger per trip, the financial lose reached to Tk 53 per day. Besides, the financial value and fuel cost of the time lost in the traffic jam stood at Tk 2270 million per month, the report said.

The Accident Research Institute (ARI) of Bangladesh University of Engineering conducted another research titled ‘Dhaka Metropolitan Traffic Jams: Financial and Health Problems’ in 2018.

According to the research report, the annual loss due to traffic jams is Tk 200000 million to Tk 55,0000 million. From this, it can be said that, the amount of financial loss due to traffic jam is Tk 37,0000 million per year.

However, with investment in the road sector, proper maintenance and political will to reduce traffic congestion and this loss could have been reduced by at least 60 percent or Tk 22,0000 million.

Director of the Accident Research Institute (ARI) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Professor of the Department of Civil Engineering at BUET Moazzem Hossain said, “The calculation of this financial loss has come from the fact that our daily working hours are wasted. The amount that is obtained by calculating the working hours with the rate at which a person earns the minimum per hour is the financial loss of Tk 37,0000 million.”

Death procession on the city’s roads:

Death procession on the road is getting longer regularly. Numerous fresh souls are falling every day. There is no way to curb road accidents in the city due to lack of proper plan by the authorities concerned. The rise in the number of deaths due to frequent accidents has been continuing in the last three years. Although, new road laws have been enacted in the face of a single movement of students, the death rate of students in road accidents is still high. The latest victim in the capital is Maisha Mumtaz Mim, a student in the English department at North South University. Meem was hit by a covered van on the Kuril flyover on her way to university on a scooter from Uttara home last Friday morning.

On Monday last, Rafika Pathan, 27, a mother of school girl Mariom Ruhi, 8, was killed in a road accident at Wari in the capital, while she along with her daughter was returning home from Kamrunnesa Girls High School.