Roads of Dhaka

Shariful, a bus driver, says that just four--five years ago he used to make 5 trips daily but now-a-days it is impossible to make even 2--3 trips a day. The reasons are mainly due to traffic jams caused by negligence of constructing damaged roads. He blames Dhaka city corporation behind negligence of constructing roads. The roads of Dhaka are such in shattered conditions that it becomes difficult for people of all walks of life to move around comfortably. The life of common city resident of Dhaka become more and more difficult each day due to bumpy roads, encroached road widths and missing manholes. The number of uncovered manholes over the entire stretch of the city poses serious threat to the safety of people using these roads.

A report shows that “A large number of lanes and by-lanes in the city, including those at Mirpur section-1, 6, 7, 10 and 11, Senpara Parbata, Kazipara, Shewrapara, Monipur, Modhyabagh, Ahmed Nagar, Pirerbagh, Shantinagar, Rampura, Nakhalpara, Tejkunipara, Arjatpara, Colony Bazar, Karwan Bazar, Tejgaon Truck Stand Road, Shahidnagar, Islambagh and many roads in Mohammadpur remain in extremely poor condition to use. These also are some of the more populated areas of the capital and are used by people who have to commute distances on foot.”

‘Did we ever have an efficient mayor in the city?’ says Monjurul Islam, a taxi driver. ‘Only because our mayors’ failures the people like us are suffering.’

Selina, a senior accountant of a private firm says the same thing, ‘I live in Kazipara. The roads are becoming narrower day by day due to works of Rajuk, WASA and DCC. It is difficult to travel by rickshaw during rainy seasons because the empty manholes get covered by flooded water. I fell down from the rickshaw twice as the rickshaw was stuck into the missing manhole cover.’

The respected authority did not do anything to recover the manhole pits. And that's how it remained till date.

A report shows that there are about 20 uncovered manholes in the Shantinagar area alone.

A van driver was carrying school children in Mohammadpur one day when his van hit a empty manhole pit. He somehow managed to balance the van, carrying children, in time to prevent what could have been a horrible accident.

Jabbar Ali, a shopkeeper in Rampura, said the main road in the area was constructed several years ago and never repaired since.

A report says that in many areas of the city, added to the bumpy roads is the fact that over the years road widths have lessened due to encroachment by residents or shop owners.

The respected authority has not taken any severe action against it. Our Dhaka city is growing up without any concrete effective planning.

25 to 30% of the roads are in severe bad conditions in Dhaka city at present. Around 2,289 km of roads are under DCC out of which 687 km of roads are not completely suitable enough to travel.

What does DCC do with the budget it announces every year? Why the roads are left in shattered conditions? If mayor cannot ensure road safety to the citizens then what is the role of mayor?

A repot on Daily Star newspaper shows that the DCC has spent about Tk 142 crore in the 2007-2008 fiscal for maintenance and development of road and traffic infrastructure, and yet the general condition of most lanes and by-lanes and parts of main thoroughfares of the city remain in very bad condition.

The report also says the DCC has set up a target of Tk 170.40 crore for the current fiscal for road and traffic maintenance and development.

A DCC officer says that they will construct and repair road and will ensure the quality of the road this time so that they remain usable for at least 10 years. The citizens of Dhaka have listened to these promises before but nothing worked.

There are around 10,000 manholes in the city are under the Wasa authority, the remaining are under the jurisdiction of DCC. This is the major problem here in Dhaka city. Everyone is king here. It is time that all major governing agencies like RAJUK, WASA, DESCO and TITAS should be brought under DCC so that implementation of the works will be done efficiently under one command.

Reducing the Bangladeshi trash mountain

This solution aims to reduce the amount of waste produced by the consumption of consumer goods through the use of wasteful packaging.
By standardizing and re-using consumer goods packaging, I estimate that Bangladesh would produce at least 40% less waste than it is currently producing. Moreover it will enable us to avoid dilemmas that many developed countries face as a result of wasteful consumer trends.
As the country is not yet fully drawn into a western style consumer market, there is a wide scope to intervene and help shape the future of how manufacturers and distributors present and deliver their products to the consumer. And in the process, Bangladesh can lead the world in ways that will help the environment, reduce pollution and create jobs for the masses.

The solution

1. All packaged consumer goods will be categorized according to similarities of the product, regardless of which manufacturer produced the item.

2. Standardised, re-usable packaging of high quality will be produced for each product category. For example, every fruit juice manufacturer will have to use the same standard packaging to deliver their product to the consumer.

3. Companies will be set up to collect used packaging for sorting and sterilisation so that the used packaging can be re-sold to the product manufacturers or packaging distributors.

4. To ensure that the consumer does not throw away the packaging, we will use the same method that Coca-Cola uses in Bangladesh: charge the customer extra for the packaging and refund the money if the empty package is returned to the shop where they were purchased. In addition, packaging collection companies will be able to provide a collection service to households for a slightly less refund than the consumer would get for taking the packaging back to the shop.


Other benefits

· Creates large companies to process used packaging, which will create a sizable number of jobs.

· Our local manufacturers are often not as successful in presenting their products the Bangladeshi consumers in the same way foreign companies do. With standardised packaging, small companies will not need to spend money on package design and will not need to make the product look attractive. This will give our local produce a better chance to succeed against foreign goods.

· We have a small landmass and cannot afford to reduce it any further by dumping things that decompose over hundreds of years.

· We are short of resources anyway, so we should not waste more than what we can afford.

· It is true that consumption fuels growth. But we do not need to accept this theory in its entirety. We can put a cap on consumption yet still find new and green ways to grow.


Use of the Bangladesh Standardization and Testing Institution

Bangladesh already has a standardisation body, which will oversee effective packaging designs, taking into consideration, quality, usability, weight, manufacturing costs, safety, ease of storage, ease of handling, ease of transport, cleaning etc.

Additional reading

Additional literature can be found here Household waste management in Dhaka, Bangladesh, written by Iftekhar Enayetullah