Dhaka's traffic congestion costs Tk550b yearly

Dhaka's traffic jams eat up about Tk 550 billion every year, said experts of the sector.

The estimated loss is now 50% more than what it was in 2010, said Abdullah Al Mamun, team leader of a study carried out five years ago to assess the financial loss in traffic congestion.

The study jointly conducted by the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport Bangladesh in 2010, said that the annual cost of traffic congestion in capital Dhaka was around Tk 1 billion a day.

The study found that about 3.2 million business hours were lost every day due to the traffic jams.  

Abdullah Al Mamun, now a divisional engineer at Rangpur Roads and Highways Department, told Prothom Alo over phone that the number of vehicles has now increased manifold in Dhaka as compared to what it was in 2010.

“The number of roads has not increased compared to vehicles, creating more traffic congestion in Dhaka. The financial loss caused by traffic congestion is 50% more than five years ago,” Mamun said.

That means, the financial loss of traffic congestion in Dhaka comes to about Tk 1.5 billion a day and 550 billion annually.

Anis Ud Dowla was the president of the MCCI in 2010. He told Prothom Alo recently, “Though there has been no research on the issue in the last five years, it can be said that the financial loss for traffic congestion has risen to 10% more than what it was five years ago.”

“'Time is money' is the mantra for business, but most of our time is lost just moving from one place to another,” Anis said.

“The first obstacle the foreign investors raise in Bangladesh is traffic congestion. The progress of a country relies on the facilities for businessmen. We are facing so many hurdles in taking the country to middle income status,” he added.

Mustafizur Rahman, executive director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) said, “The financial loss that we face for loss of work hours has a negative impact on every sector of production, investment, and consumption.”

“This loss raises production cost of our products, decreases competitive ability and frustrates foreign investment,” Mustafizur added.

Prof Shamsul Haque of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) said, “Integrated information is essential for this sort of research. It is the responsibility of government institutions to collect year-wise data. But they are not doing this.”

“Loss of work hours varies from person to person. There will be differences between a student and a bank chief executive in this regard,” Shamsul added.

Though the Dhaka dwellers are unaware of their loss of work hours due to lack of research, they suffer in the traffic gridlocks.

Prof Md Tajul Islam of the National Institute of Mental Health told Prothom Alo, “City dwellers are now immensely tired of everyday the traffic gridlock. We have observed a rise in hypertension diseases and fall of tolerance among Dhaka dwellers. These behavioural disorders are harmful to human relationships.”

“There has been on financial loss due to traffic congestion, but no one thought of conducting research on the psychological harm caused by this,” Tajul added.