The New Nation - Internet Edition

Engineer Shafiqul Alam

Solving the problem of Congestion in a mega-city like Dhaka is not an easy task to some extent if we Compare with other cities of America or city like Bangkok. Rather it is easier to solve if one looks at the traffic flow pattern & city area of Dhaka. At present we are living in a stage of acute fuel crisis (not only now, we always import a huge amount of petroleum) where the price is very high in spite of huge subsidy given by GOB & that's why the solution should be something that consumes less fuel than any other system.

A few months ago in an article I read that trams, trolley or BRT would make similar or even better performance than that of underground mass transit at a hundred times less cost. Very interesting! Tram-it is totally an obsolete mode of transport at low speed (almost we can walk) caters only a few passengers. Recently I have visited India and in Calcutta each tram is getting only 10-15 passengers, where the electricity is always wasted. Moreover trams are creating more congestion as it is moving on the same road that is for other transports as well. On the other hand BRT is always liable for pollution. If fuel consumption of BRT is considered with MRT for catering the same number of passengers then it is found that metro rail is far more efficient & it is absolutely impossible in Dhaka to make comfortable movement by BRT.

Going underground is a different & nice experiencetsome think that if he or she goes to the underground he/she would not be able to experience what is happening over the ground or throughout the city (missing monuments, malls etc etc) which is a nonsense thinking. The city dwellers are already well aware of the city & its life style or what so ever. Foreigner would enjoy to know the city & that's why they should use the surface transport. In London there is 500 km of subway & getting very good numbers of passengers. Go & ask the people whether they love to use subway or not? Definitely the answer would be yes.

In Calcutta metro all most 8-10 lacs of passengers are traveling everyday by only 16.45 km stretch (North-South connector), which is under extension for another 8.5 km (after the completion of that extension, the line would be able to cater about 12-15 lacs of passengers per day). Meanwhile the much talked construction phase of line from Hawra to Saltlake (East-west connector) beneath Ganga by TBM has inaugurated on last 30th June. Interesting point is JBIC is providing loan there & that loan is disbursed from the portion of Dhaka subway (JBIC was agreed in principle to provide soft loan for Dhaka Subway in 2005). Calcutta metro would be able to cater about 25-30 lacs of passengers per day when the new line would be completed.

Let us talk about Sky-train (LRT), during the comparative study for any transport plan all over the world it has been found that LRT can cater less than half of the passengers than that of metro rail (MRT) & speed is also less than half of metro rail. Even in case of elevated metro rail the speed is much less what I have already seen in Delhitthe average speed is 50 Kph beneath the ground where as that is 25 Kph in the overground. This is because of the elevated structure which is always vulnerable to collapse in case of high speed mass transport. For elevated structure it is absolutely true that it can absorb only vertical load but no lateral movement.

People always love to compare Dhaka with Americatfine. The American cities are the largest cities of the world (probably 7 largest cities are in America out of 10 of the whole world) & the percentage of roads are much more than Dhaka. This point should be kept in mind. In Bangkok the sky-train is not efficient as the lines are not covering the business zone. Anyway they have planned for 91 km of heavy metrotplease check.

In the recent past China has constructed subway of km after km & decided to cover most of the cities & the question is why? Two new lines have been added with the existing lines in Beijing to save the environment from pollution, why they did not go for BRT(unacceptable due to heavy pollution in the form of chemical emission responsible for warming) & or LRT(it is also free from pollution)?

There is a wrong thinking throughout the city that STP has been approved but the fact is STP is neither a authority nor a Government engaged entity. It is just a consultancy firm. The past Government did not approve STP because the plan has a baskets of projects but no commercial calculation that means just one side of the accounting i.e. cost was calculated without return. The present GOVT has also not approved STP, they have just told that metro rail is taken from the plan. Anyway the first thinking of metro rail was initiated by a local firm named Contech Ltd. back in May 2002 by a press conference, then GOVT. had invited tender & being the lowest bidder there the firm was kept waiting due to the absence of Private Infrastructure Guidelines. In October 2004 the Guidelines was published by the the then Government. The experts of STP came to light in 2004 by the consultancy of world bank & Mr. Louis Berger of America to just delay the project of the local firm. In the later part of 2006, PICOM (private Infrastructure Committee) the head body for private infrastructure development, approved the project & subsequently it was forwarded to the CCEA (Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs), in the mean time the the then GOVT. handed over their power. After 1/11, Cabinet asked a NOC from the honorable the then communication Adviser Maj. Gen M. A. Matin. Mr. Matin then critically gave time to STP for about 4-5 months but he found that STP is simply a waste of time and money (3.2 billion $) without route details, stations & IRR (Internal Rate of Return). Then Mr. Matin gave every one a scope including monorail, sky-train (even those were without tender) in presentation. After that a high powered technical committee was formed to evaluate the most effective project headed by the Honorable VC of BUET. The committee gave their opinion in favor of underground metro rail of Contech Ltd. (by Cut & Cover method with a cost of 6200 crore & that would be increased a bit) & Mr. Matin gave a NOC to the Cabinet, later that is approved in the CCEA in presence of Mr. Matin. Now the project is in the stage of implementation. The Advisers council in principle agreed that some projects of STP would be approved including metro rail. Another thing was included in that meeting & that was to construct expressway after subway but there was no proposal. Basically no credit goes to STP because their recommendation was different * LRT * BRT * Expressway * Link roads * Pedestrians * Over-bridge etc. then finally metro rail by TBM (with huge subsidy from GOB).

Everyone is suggesting to engage local firm in coal exploration but there is no proposal, then how? At the same time a local firm has been engaged at their own cost for last 6 years for establishing subway but no-one has appreciated that, why? Even i have seen that some tell Contech as a thai firm.

If we look at the implemented projects to improve traffic movement then we would find some unsatisfactory scenario- * Development of pedestrians (waste of money as there is no subway then why the people would walk? When subway is in operation then people would use pedestrians to reach the stations.) * Over-bridge (people feel psychologically stressed to climb upward & that's why over-bridges remain empty in a hot-humid Dhaka.) * Development of road dividers (waste of money-road dividers are made wide & road space has been wasted) * Beautification (waste-its a congested polluted city, so congestion & pollution should be removed first) * fly-over (the mohakhali, its a matter of thinking for next hundred years that who have conducted feasibility?) * Signaling system (waste of money--30-45 seconds are not good enough for the vehicles to pass that & that's why during red light vehicles move) * training programmer for traffic personnel (waste- wrong concept) * CCTV (Waste of money-visualization of traffic congestion can never solve congestion). Huge public money has been wasted by these worthless projects of our authorities but they have not yet completed eastern bypass & without this there would be no subway line in the eastern zone.

Recently I have read somebody is suggesting not to allow to park in the roads, then where did the people park? Why the high-rise buildings have no underground parking? Then what is the function of RAJUK?

However, Dhaka is the most densely populated mega-city in the world with the very high growth rate & it has its own traffic flow pattern completely different from America or so & so. Considering trade, commerce, education etc everyone's first preference is Dhaka. For example-to become an engineer, the first choice is BUET. In this way the population is increasing. In this context the metro rail is the only viable solution as at present there is acute crisis of fuel & congestion as well as pollution is very high. With the introduction of metro rail people would be able to live in the sub-urban areas by lessening load in the metropolis. After that heavy tax should be imposed on cars during the peak hours. More over GOB should emphasize on the private sector. If they can go for VOIP with the companies related to trading or construction, then why not others?