It was indeed heartening to hear the Prime Minister speak on her Government's firm commitment to make Dhaka a modern city with a smooth communications system including waterways around the city by regaining the rivers. The Prime Minister was speaking at the opening of the third Buriganga Bridge named the Buddhijibi Setu. In the speech, she also re-iterated many of her Government's commitment with regard to Dhaka city.
For the residents of this huge metropolis that ranks among the top capitals of the world in the number of people residing in the city, the Prime Minister's commitment is something they don't even dare to dream these days. Take for instance the traffic situation. It is going from bad to worse. Sometime ago, under the direct order of the Prime Minister, the authorities launched Operation Clean Street. The Prime Minister herself was a victim of that Operation as her motorcade was stranded in the traffic jam to let her see firsthand the miseries that people have to live with on a daily basis on the very first morning this initiative was launched. Subsequent efforts to improve the traffic system through different timing for offices and educational institutions and experiments with lanes and lights also did not have any positive impact in improving Dhaka traffic.
It is surprising that it has not yet dawned upon the authorities that the real problems of Dhaka traffic are, firstly, it has ridiculously small percentage of the city's space for roads for a city of this size. Second, it is the ONLY capital city in the world that has vehicles on the road from different stages of human history. It is quite likely to see on the city road, a brand new Japanese car using the road side by side with carts being pulled by humans! Third, where there is practically no effort to increase the space for city's roads as there is hardly any extra space available to do so, the authorities are allowing hundreds of extra cars into the city's roads every month! Do we need any brains then to predict that Dhaka roads are soon going to be space for parking vehicles of all kinds for physically; they would not be able to move because of sheer numbers?
The grave problem over Dhaka's roads is simply symptomatic of much graver problems with other critical aspects of Dhaka life that make it more than a day dream to believe in the Prime Minister and her resolve to make Dhaka, in her words, a modern metropolis. While I was an Ambassador in Japan, I was once told by a Japanese expert who has worked for a Japanese multinational in improving Dhaka's sewerage. He said that in the context of Dhaka's sewerage management, the city is sitting on a powder keg and when it blasts, as it could anytime, the people would have no alternative but to run away from the city as fast as they could.
In recent times, we have had many seminars and newspaper reports about Dhaka and the rest of the country in the context of possible earthquakes. The conclusion of these seminars/newspaper reports is alarming. An earthquake of moderate intensity would be capable of taking 3/4th of the city buildings down as almost all of them have been built without spending a dime in making them resistant to moderate earthquakes. The regular tremors that have increased of late in all parts of Bangladesh, and given the fact that we are in an earthquake prone zone should scare the daylight out of us.
Dhaka was such a beautiful city not too long ago. Those who have seen Dhaka in the 1950s and 1960s cannot help a tear or two in their eyes as they sit in their cars spending hours to get between distances that in any normal situation, even with traffic congestion, should have taken minutes. In a discussion on traffic with some friends recently, I suggested that one reason for this traffic menace in Dhaka city is the contribution of the newly rich class living in Gulshan, Baridhara, Dhanmandi where each family has 2/3/4 cars. A friend said while this is partly true I should also consider the fact that in the past, one car per family could easily take care of dropping children in school, come back to take the father to his office, come back again to look after the need of the mother, then go back to bring the children home and then again go to the office and bring the father back home. If for the father there was any need for the car for emergency reasons, he could ask for it and get it in a matter of 15/30 minutes depending on location. These days, once the car goes to drop the children to the schools, that car is gone for the entire morning. Hence the father needs a car, the mother another and a third car for the children where the father can afford it. In the city, there are now thousands who can and that has never been brought into the equation. A major way traffic congestion has been relieved in cities elsewhere is by carpooling. In all the discussions we have had over tackling traffic in Dhaka city, we have never heard the authorities who are responsible for Dhaka's traffic even talk about it.
Dhaka's current predicament is a sad one and one must give credit to the Prime Minister for her courage to think that this city could be transformed into a modern city. Unfortunately, the ground realities do not encourage positive thinking here. The Prime Minister is up against people who just do not have any idea that a city such as Dhaka can only survive if everyone who has a stake in it rise above self interest and come around to save the city. Unfortunately, here we have the biggest problem. Rich, middle class or poor, no one in this city is willing to give up even a wee bit of land or his/her own piece of whatever he/she has for a common cause.
Here the rich are the greatest defaulters. They have not just grabbed all the natural wetland in Dhaka city and around it, they have also grabbed and occupied the beautiful rivers around the city that should have given Dhaka's planners in the past such a wonderful natural platform to build one of the most beautiful cities of the world. Belatedly, there has been discussion at all levels against the river grabbers where even the armed forces of the country have been caught encroaching. But as always, we have been loud on talk and very low on action as the rivers, the wetlands, the canals and the rest continue to remain in the hands of the grabbers!
Coming back to the traffic that is now one major problem that is making Dhaka the most un-livable city in the world, a year has passed by but this Government has talked a lot and done nothing to take action to build underground, over ground roads and waterways around Dhaka without which Dhaka's traffic can only make the city come to a standstill. During the caretaker government, the Adviser in charge had twice announced in the media about building for Dhaka an underground traffic system but his initiative was a media event. One just hopes that the elected government would not act the same way as the caretaker government. This government is already a year late on this important initiative and must consider urgently that time is of the essence here.
Even if the government does all the right things for Dhaka, like build the underground and over ground roads, the waterways, attend to the sewerage, be conscious about making buildings follow earthquake provisions, Dhaka city would still remain dangerously imperfect. Just imagine the size of Dhaka city. At night, from Sadarghat, the northern tip of the city to Uttara, the southern tip, it takes 20/25 minutes of travel time by car. East to west, the distance is even less, making the city the most congested city in the world. The problem is no one in Government is even taking note of this. The way the people are flowing from outside Dhaka to the capital, the city will die simply by the pressure of just too many people! Therefore side by side, the Government must also make serious efforts to send people to district towns near to Dhaka like Comilla for instance and build connecting fast roads and trains so that people can come from these small towns and work in Dhaka without crowding the city and killing it. Good roads could bring people from Comilla to work in Motijheel, the city's business district, faster than from Uttara or even Dhanmandi at the moment! If the Government is serious about saving Dhaka, it must act and act with vision and not just talk.
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