'Devices to combat traffic snarls satisfactory'

Traffic police and city corporation officials have expressed satisfaction at the ‘effectiveness’ of signal timing countdown system installed in capital Dhaka to reduce vehicular congestions.

They monitored functioning of the system at Shahbagh from 4pm to 6pm on Sunday.

During the monitoring, the roads around Shahbagh witness less traffic jam than any other day.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Traffic Division Deputy Commissioner (South) Khan Mohammad Rezwan told bdnews24.com: “Primarily, it seems that the signal timing countdown system will work for easing traffic congestion.”

“And there will be opportunity to fix things if there is any glitch,” he said.

Rezwan said Dhaka City Corporation would oversee the system and police would control the traffic going by the system.

Traffic signal timing countdown devices have been installed at 65 points in Dhaka city at a cost of Tk 150 million under a project ‘Clean and Sustainable Environment’ funded by the World Bank.

The traffic authorities would bring the entire city under the system in next two years.

Dhaka South City Corporation Assistant Engineer Touhid Ibn Akram said the devices had been installed after studying the movement of traffic at every point.

He said these devices would stop whenever VIPs travel through a specific area and resume after they pass.

He urged the city-dwellers to go by the system to help ease traffic jam.

Traffic police and city corporation officials said the devices at other points would be checked in a month.