Chief Adviser asks police, experts to find solutions to traffic problems

Chief adviser professor Muhammad Yunus on Monday asked police and experts from the country's elite engineering university to find solutions for easing traffic congestion in the capital Dhaka, says a press release of the chief adviser's office.

The chief adviser gave the directive during a meeting with top police officials of Dhaka Metropolitan Police and two city traffic system experts from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).

He ordered the DMP to find 'some quick and effective solution' to the traffic problem for Dhaka's 20 million people.

"We've to ease traffic congestion. We need to find a solution immediately," he said during a meeting at the state guest house Jamuna in Dhaka.

Traffic police was asked to take up some pilot anti-congestion schemes, such as restricting bus stoppage time in smaller stations to less than two minutes in 2-3 key roads, and subsequently replicate them in other roads of the city.

The BUET experts have been asked to find some home-grown solutions with the help of their students in at least one traffic corridor. They are also asked to fix the signalling system by using local expertise.

BUET professor and a transportation and traffic system expert, Moazzem Hossain, gave a presentation during the meeting. He said the country loses at least Tk 400 billion annually in traffic congestion in Dhaka city alone.

Nazmul Hassan, additional commissioner, traffic of the DMP, said the traffic situation has continued to improve in recent weeks after the deployment of more traffic policemen. Full deployment is expected by the end of next week, he said.

Lieutenant General (retired) Abdul Hafiz, the special assistant to the chief adviser, Md Hadiuzzaman, a civil engineering professor of BUET, and Faruk Ahmed, an additional commissioner of DMP, also spoke during the meeting.