Dhaka, the slowest city of the world

Capital Dhaka is now the slowest city in the world. This information was confirmed analysing the speed of vehicles in more than 1,200 cities in some 152 countries. This slow traffic speed has an adverse impact on the economy.

This information came up in a research journal published by the National Bureau of Economic Research of the USA. The

The study analysed data collected from Google maps regarding how much time it takes to reach certain destinations in cities with a population over 300,000. The traffic information was taken at different times on different days of the week.

Assistant professor Prottoy Aman Akbar of the Economics, Urban Economics, Transportation Economics department at the Aalto University in Finland, associate professor Victor Couture of the Department of Economics at the British Columbia University in Canada, professor Gilles Duranton of the real estate department of the University of Pennsylvania and associate professor Adam Storeygard of the Department of Economics at the University of Tufts in the US conducted the research with assistance from the World Bank (WB).

According to research, the city of Flint in Michigan, US is the fastest city in the world. Some 86 of the top 100 fastest cities are in the US. And some 19 of the top 20 fastest cities in the world are located in the US. The only city out of the USA in the list of top 20 fastest cities in the world is the city of Windsor in the Ontario state of Canada.

Dhaka is followed by two cities of Nigeria – Lagos and Ikorodu – respectively in the list of top 20 countries with the slowest traffic speed. Apart from Dhaka, Mymensingh and Chattogram are in the 9th and 12th place of the list with slowest traffic speed. There are eight Indian cities in this list, including Kolkata and Mumbai.

The research shows that the traffic speed in rich countries on average is 50 per cent higher than the poor countries, because the roads in the developed countries are more spacious. It allows more vehicles to ply on roads without the hassle of traffic congestion.

The research also presents a list of 20 slowest cities despite less pressure of vehicles. Dhaka has been ranked 2nd in this list. There are four other cities in the country in the list – Khulna (4th), Mymensingh (5th), Chattogram (18th) and Cumilla (19th).

US-based Time Magazine published a report based on this research last Thursday. It contained a comparison of traffic speed in between two cities with fastest and slowest traffic speed.

The report notes, it took around 55 minutes on average to reach the Shahabuddin Ahmed Park in Dhaka from the Shahjalal International Airport, a distance of 9 kilometres. But it takes only 9 minutes to cover the same distance. The reason behind this is not only the pressure of vehicles. Therefore, it takes around 30 minutes to cover the distance in Dhaka even at midnight, which is thrice the average speed of the fastest city.

The research further states that, if we can increase the traffic speed by just 1.3 per cent, then the GDP will rise by 10 per cent.

United States is 27 per cent faster than the other 30 member countries of the OECD and Bangladesh is 20 per cent slower than other poor countries.

Compared to other cities in the OECD countries, US cities are 24 per cent less populous, cover 72 per cent more area, have 67 per cent more major roads and have 30 per cent more roads that conform to the road network’s main grid orientation.

Relative to cities in other poor countries, cities in Bangladesh are 40 per cent more populous (with similar areas), are crossed by 116 per cent more water bodies, and possess 42 per cent fewer major roads. It accounts for almost all the speed difference between the US and other OECD countries, and between Bangladesh and other poor countries

Researchers said their investigation is important for three reasons. Firstly, urban transportation policy is a major concern worldwide, and our results emphasize several effects relevant to policy. These mobility improvements occur because these roads are intrinsically faster, not because the provision of more major roads reduces congestion

Secondly, many urban dwellers do not live within walking distance of good jobs, good schools, productive peers, and attractive entertainment options. Instead, they depend on fast and reliable transportation to access such opportunities and benefit from urban interactions. A walking city on a medieval scale cannot support the complex production networks and diversity of consumption amenities of modern cities.

Thirdly, despite the large monetary and time resources devoted to urban transportation by households and governments, little is known about how most cities fare in terms of mobility. Urban policymakers rarely know how their city performs relative to peer cities and why.

At least 23 projects involving Tk 120 billion have been undertaken in Chattogram over the past 10 years to improve road infrastructure. Work on most of the projects has been completed, yet, congestion has increased, and traffic jams hit the city’s various areas during daylight.

Planned Chattogram Forum vice president and road transport expert Suvash Barua told Prothom Alo expansion of road and construction of flyover and elevated expressway will not reduce traffic jams unless the main reason for congestion is found out. Projects have been implemented abruptly instead of doing what was necessary to alleviate congestion, and though projects have been implemented, required traffic management was not emphasised.

Traffic congestion has been on the rise in Mymensingh over the past decade. Local citizen organisation leaders all roads including the main roads are narrow, causing congestion. Populations have increased, but roads were not developed. Besides, movements of illegal vehicles and rail crossings are one of the major reasons for traffic jams, they said.

Citizen platform Janauddogo (People’s Imitative) convener Nazrul Islam said it is necessary to widen roads and control the movement of vehicles to alleviate congestion.

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) published a survey on 27 September stating a dweller in Dhaka city spends 46 minutes in traffic jams in every two hours and wastes an average of 276 hours annually.

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) professor and transport expert Shamsul Alam told Prothom Alo that people’s movement is a very important matter. Cities are built because education, health and leisure facilities will be available in a small place and people will have access to it by moving fast.

He said there are no facilities for fast movement in Dhaka and attempts have been made in the short term instead of taking long-lasting and sustainable plans to solve the problems. Now, mega projects have been undertaken, but development projects cannot solve problems without management.

“Decentralisation is necessary to reduce pressure on Dhaka, and the number of small vehicles, rickshaws and motorcycles must be reduced. Instead, we are doing the opposite. As a result, projects are being taken with huge spending, and problems are not going away.”

[Prothom Alo’ Chattogram office and Correspondent, Mymensingh contributed reporting.]