Dhaka traffic three times slower, wastes 3.2m work hours a day: WB

Dhaka’s notorious traffic is costing its citizens around 3.2 million working hours every day, according to an analysis by the World Bank.

The city’s traffic speed has decreased from 21 kilometres per hour to 7 kilometres per hour in the last ten years, said a draft report presented on Wednesday.

A 2014 study conducted by Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon, an environmental rights group, said 8 million work hours were wasted in traffic.

The waste amounts to a loss worth Tk 120 billion every year, according to a report by the Roads and Highways Department from 2013.

Dhaka commuters are plunged into traffic chaos as Bangladesh Chhatra League celebrates its 69th founding anniversary. Photo: asif mahmud ove

The primary findings were released in the draft report titled ‘Towards Great Dhaka: A New Urban Development Paradigm Eastward’ on Wednesday.

LGRD Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, Dhaka city’s two mayors – Sayeed Khokon and Annisul Huq – were among those who discussed the data during the launch at Sonargaon hotel.

Roads were increased by five percent in the years between 1955 and 2005, but traffic movement was up by 134 percent besides a 50 percent increase in residents, said the report.

The city is expanding towards the north and the west while the east retained mostly rural conditions, the World Bank said.

“East Dhaka makes up for 40 percent of the metropolis, it’s just five kilometres from affluent Gulshan, and can potentially contribute to development through financial and human resource investment,” the report said. 

The World Bank fears that rapid and unplanned urbanisation attempts at eastern Dhaka would further jeopardise citizens by increasing traffic congestion and environmental risks.

Around 36 percent of Bangladesh’s urban population lived in Dhaka, said Qimiao Fan, the World Bank country director for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.

“Dhaka’s population will cross 35 million in 2035 if the current growth pattern continues. The city will need proper planning to achieve its full potential...  

“As Bangladesh’s partner in long-term development, the World Bank is ready to assist in the transformation of this metropolis,” he added.

Delhi before 2008 was haphazard with huge traffic jams and just one flyover, said Sheila Dixit, its former chief minister.

The city’s metrorail, which stretches beyond 250 kilometres, was constructed with thorough planning, she said. Delhi City constructed 78 flyovers, and built overpasses or underpasses in intersections.    
   
Dhaka North Mayor Annisul Huq said the ongoing effort to transform Bangladesh’s capital has been targeting the construction of roads.

“You’ll see a new Dhaka in two years if the work continues like this. Then every street in Dhaka will be like that of Gulshan.”

He hoped land being encroached upon currently will be freed within that period.