BE Magazine

One of the fastest-growing cities in the
world, Dhaka plays the broad-based multifunctional
role of being the administrative
center, business, trade, and commercial
center and political and cultural center of
Bangladesh.
The prospective population in RAJUK area
is projected to grow to 26.3 million by the
year 2035, according to the Revised Strategic
Transport Plan for Dhaka (RSTP) of 2016. A
large percentage of this growth will be coming
from immigration, as the rural population is
consistently attracted to the capital city for its
expanded job opportunities. The household
income in Dhaka is expected to increase by
about four times comparing to the current
level, according to studies.
Traffic Congestion
According to the Bangladesh Road Transport
Authority (BRTA), there are about 1.1 million
registered vehicles in Dhaka. As per the
RSTP, residents of Dhaka make around 30
million trips every day, of which some 47%
involve buses, 32% are made in rickshaws,
while nine percent are carried out by private
cars.
The traffic congestion in Dhaka has turned
daily trips of millions of commuters into a
terrible experience. According to a World
Bank report published in 2018, average
traffic speed in Dhaka has dropped to 7
kmph, wasting around 3.2 million working
hours daily. According to another research
conducted by the Accident Research Institute
(ARI) of the Bangladesh University of
Engineering and Technology (Buet), Dhaka
traffic wastes 5 million work hours daily,
causing a loss of Tk 370 billion a year.
In order to ease traffic congestion, the
Government of Bangladesh (GoB) has
undertaken some long-term projects,
including three-ring roads to deviate traffic
from the city center, five metro rail lines, two
rapid bus routes, and 1,200 kilometers of new
roadways. Some of these projects are already
at different stages of implementation.
RSTP 2016
As the Dhaka metropolitan area grows to its
future population of over 35 million, there will
be an increasing demand for public transport
The same year, Dhaka
Mass Transit Company Ltd.
(DMTC) was formed, to be
the implementing agency
of the MRT Line-6 project.
services. An efficient mass rapid transport
system which the general public can afford
to use will be necessary to transport people
to work and also to their leisure activity. To
develop an efficient, integrated, and modern
transit system in and around the capital city,
the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority
(DTCA) formulated a 20-year strategic
transport plan (STP) in 2005.
As part of concrete planning for the
integrated transit system, Dhaka Transport
Coordination Board (DTCB) of the GoB,
as the implementing agency and Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as
the executing agency conducted a preparatory
survey on Dhaka Urban Transport Network
Development Study (Phase 1) from March,
2009 to March 2010. The Phase 1 Study
recommended a series of urban transport
network development projects and programs.
The MRT Line-6 was selected in the Phase
1 Study as the high priority project. Later
further studied in Phase 2 were conducted
to confirm the feasibility, technical and
economical details. The STP was revised to
adjust to prevailing transport needs in 2016.
Under the revised STP (RSTP), five 5 mass
rapid transit (MRT) and two bus rapid transit
(BRT) lines were proposed. Implementation
of short-, medium- and long-term projects
has been suggested to cope with the additional
vehicular movements in the future, which
could almost double by 2035.
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COVER STORY
December, 2019
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