Major govt investment sought to fix Dhaka's road transport

Sector insiders and experts have called for a major government investment in the capital's road transport as the authorities' call to remove old buses from the roads has received little response from owners.

Several hundred old and unfit buses still ply the roads in Dhaka, raising passenger-safety concerns and causing severe air pollution.

Earlier, the environment ministry wrote to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) to remove buses and trucks older than 20 and 25 years, respectively, from the roads and make emission testing mandatory for issuing fitness certificates.

Later, Road Transport and Bridges Adviser Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan said the old public transports completing their economic life would not be allowed to run after May this year in order to protect the environment.

Office Secretary at the Dhaka Road Transport Owners' Association Kazi Zubair Masud told The Financial Express they support the government's call to remove old buses and have already written to the owners to comply within the deadline.

There are about 4,500 buses in Dhaka and nearly 350 have completed their lifespan, he said.

When asked why the buses which are unfit and in poor condition, including damaged seats, are still dominating the city roads, Masud replied that being unfit does not mean they completed their lifespan of 20 years.

"Yes, you see there are some buses that look unfit and are operating in the city. We have also asked bus owners to comply with the fitness certificate requirement from the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA)," he added.

Call for fresh investment

The association has received applications from some private investors and bus owners seeking loans to introduce new vehicles, according to Masud.

"We have instances in other countries of private companies getting loans and subsidies in the road transport sector. However, we are being deprived of large-scale support from the government in this sector," he lamented.

Meanwhile, there are also many applications seeking new route permits. However, the authorities are not issuing new route permits in the city, he added.

Transport experts told The Financial Express they are not optimistic about the implementation of the government's move to remove old buses.

Even if it works, it would hardly change the prevailing messy situation of the city's road transport system, they said.

Md Hadiuzzaman, a professor of civil engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), said the authorities made such decisions many times but finally backtracked from implementation due to the pressure from bus owners.

Also a former director of BUET's Accident Research Institute, he said this situation of old, unfit, and fragile buses operating on the streets prevails nowhere in the world.

This has a direct link to the passengers' safety and environmental pollution, he also said.

"It is not a technical decision but a political will. If the government wants, it will work," the transport expert added.

Back in 2014, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) suggested bringing road transport under a government company.

It also said a government company has to be established and private bus owners should not be dependent upon as this would not work.

"The majority of the passengers in the city use buses - three to four times higher than the expensive metro rail. The government spent hundreds of billions of taka on metro rail. But it requires only about Tk 40-50 billion to completely change the city's road transport system. To operate this, we need a government company," Prof Hadiuzzaman added.

"We can assemble 7,000-8,000 buses as we have workshops capable of that. We can assemble those at one-fourth the cost of importing a complete vehicle by the private owners," he explained.

Environmental concern

According to government data, old vehicles are responsible for 15 per cent of Dhaka's air pollution.

Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumder, a professor of environmental science at Stamford University and the director of the Centre for Atmospheric Pollution Studies (CAPS) at the university, said old engines cannot function properly and consume additional fuel, thus emitting huge toxic chemicals and gas.

This is significantly contributing to the city's air pollution and temperature rise, he added.

Meanwhile, as the private companies do not have any market analysis and related data, they are indifferent to investing in buying new buses, said experts, observing that until the old buses are eliminated from the streets, new vehicles will not be there.

"The government should have an expert team to convince investors in the sector with scientific knowledge. Old buses give them profits at the expense of environmental and public health damage," said Prof Majumder.

nsrafsanju@gmail.com