June 11, 2001

Let me ask a blunt question.  How many readers do think that Dhaka is simply unlivable?   Read on.  You will know why am I bringing this unpalatable topic for discussion.

Let us for once accept the fact that Dhaka is one of the most unplanned cities of the world.  It is a small wonder how this megalopolis manages to survive.  Nonetheless, it manages to function somehow.  To many Dhakaites, who had been living in this city of nearly 7-8 millions, which is a guesstimate (guess + estimate), the city may be limping and managing to survive somehow, but to outsiders (read westerners) the city as it stands now, is quite unfit for living.   There is, however, some merit in thinking that way.  For the sake of discussion, let us only discuss the ailing traffic situation, which is deteriorating by the days.  There is no sign anywhere in the horizon that anyone could see which may point towards a sea change.  In one word, the worsening traffic situation is at best nightmarish.  And at its worst, it could be a seen from hell.
 

Let me admit this fact that traffic hardly moves in Dhaka’s main artery during rush hours.  Many folks from mercantile community would prefer to leave their house late in the morning to simply avoid the all too familiar rush hour traffic jams.  But their number is few and far between.  Most Dhaka folks who work in government offices, schools, and other offices have no choice but to hit the road during the morning rush hour.  These folks obviously take the brunt of rush hour traffic jam.  If one thinks that it is an exaggerated statement, then one should climb up to one of those over bridges near Farmgate, Karwan Bazaar, or Bangla Motors to take a peek at any of the ubiquitous traffic jams.  One could see the crawling vehicles, as far as the eyes would allow one to see, lining up the avenues near the bustling intersections.  Come to think of it, there are quite a few intersections near Farmgate.  This clearly indicates that Dhaka’s road system is unplanned from the very beginning.  Did anyone wonder as to why there are many roads going East-West direction starting from Old Mymensingh Road, which is now lovingly called the VIP road?  In the early 1960s, when some these roads were built, there were some powerful people who lived at the far end of Indira Road.  These folks exerted undue pressure on DIT Urban Planners so that Indira Road should stay the same.  The government could have easily widened Indira Road then, but that would have spelled disastrous for those powerful landowners.  Their houses would have been consumed by the widened Indira Road.  Therefore, the government decided to erect a parallel road next to Indira Road.  Well, now you know why do multiple roads go East-West parallel to Indira Road.  Incase you are wondering who is the mastermind behind this manipulation, it is none other than Mr. Doha (popularly known as I.G. Doha; I.G. stands for Inspector General of Police, which he was during the late forties and early fifties in East Pakistan), who happened to be in the cabinet of Ayub Khan in late fifties.  Political connections pay off in our part of the world.
 

Forget the personal anecdotes!  Let us move into the Twenty First Century Bangladesh.  You see, by any stretch of imagination, Dhaka is not a huge place.  The width (east-west direction) is hardly few miles.  The city could have moved only in the North-South direction.  This imposes a serious restriction on the availability of land.  But this severe paucity of land had hardly diminished the growth rate of this burgeoning city.  Any legitimate city planner worth his salt would not recommend the city of Dhaka for people over 1-2 million.  The ever-growing population had easily exceeded this capacity by six folds, already.  And there is no sign that the population growth in this city is abating.  Where will it end?  This is not mere a speculation if anyone says that Dhaka's population will be twice as much as it is now by 2016 at the rate of 5% growth rate.  Can anyone imagine what will it be like then?  The present road system of Dhaka, which is hardly adequate for moving vehicles for 1-2 million people, will virtually collapse when the population of this megalopolis will reach a staggering 10-12 million.  It is to be hoped that urban planners of Dhaka are doing theirs clearheaded thinking right now or else the system will collapse right before their eyes.

There is no dearth of demographers in Dhaka whose sole business is to make projection on population distribution, its growth, etc.  Respected institutions and NGOs dealing with Bangladesh’s population problem also routinely hire some of these experts.  Once in a while, we read excerpts from their speeches or reports in newspapers.  But very seldom do we read or hear their forecast on ever-growing traffic congestion.  Do they realize that it is already causing a serious problem?  This massive traffic congestion is taking its toll on human health, economy, environment, and myriad other anthropomorphic activities.  The price tag is rather high when people have to spend hours unnecessarily on the road in sweltering heat.  Never mind the high humidity.  The resulting misery generated by the high heat and humidity takes its toll on human health.  To add insult to the injury, the unpleasantness this high misery index generates slows down the productivity of a person.  No wonder, the average productivity of our office worker in Dhaka is not up to par with office workers in the West.  But then who cares about the productivity enhancement of our people?
 

The traffic problem of Dhaka is hindering the growth of the megalopolis and Bangladesh, both.  The traffic is not only stodgily slow, it is erratic and unpredictable.  On every intersection the drivers become quite unruly.  A first time visitor may think that Bengalis are the most wild bunch who have no respect for law of the land.  This is indeed a serious matter.  It will be unwise to think that a would-be-investor would bet his bottom dollar thinking that productive work could be generated in this chaotic nation.  In any roundabout in Dhaka the plying babytaxis, rickshas, buses, etc., form multiple lines.  They do this to grab a tiny space out of sheer desperation.  Behavioral scientists have long since done experiments to show that even insects demonstrate aggressive behavior when they are placed in a crowded situation.  Therefore, it comes as no surprise to see that Dhaka’s pedestrians, thelawallahs, rickshawallahs, babytaxiwallahs, vanwallahs, and bus/truck drivers all vie for tiny spaces with noticeable aggression and utter disregard for others’ right of way .  This obviously creates serious problems such as unnecessary traffic holdup and minor fender bender incidences.  Nonetheless, there is a price tag for such bizarre behavior.  Serious vehicular related accidents are growing with an accelerated rate everywhere in urban areas of this impoverished nation.  But somehow the urbanites of Bangladesh -- more specifically the Dhakaites -- are oblivious to growing traffic prooblem.  Some even shrug off this urban nuisance calling it a mere unpleasant experience.
 

While I was in Dhaka and Chittagong city in June 2001, I saw a whole slew of babytaxis plying the main thoroughfare without any regard to pollution control.  Mind you, these two-stroke engine babytaxis are renowned for being the principal polluter in Dhaka and elsewhere in Bangladesh cities.  Whenever the traffic stops near an intersection, one can clearly see a plume of engine fume coming from the tailpipes of babytaxis.  It is a small wonder why these vehicles are allowed to ply the streets of Dhaka, Chittagong, and elsewhere.  There must be a strong lobby from the babytaxi owners’ association to keep this pollution maker from crisscrossing the streets of our megalopolis.  Through legislation, the government could very easily stop importation of the new engines from India.  We all know the phrase – "If there’s a will, there’s a way."  If the Civil Society of Bangladesh wants to stop these polluting machines, then they could easily start a movement to ban these two-stroke engines from entering Bangladesh.  Until that happens, more lungs will be damaged by the toxic fumes.  More benzene and other harmful toxic organic molecules will find its way into human body as babytaxis shoots out black stuff into our airspace.  The other wholesale polluter that I saw in Dhaka and Chittagong was diesel-fueled bus and trucks.  In the West we have seen diesel-run vehicles but they don’t seem to emit black fumes through their tailpipes.  Surely, there are mechanisms to trap the black particles from leaving the engine exhaust system.  But in Bangladesh, either the mechanics tweak the system or the pollution control device stops from working.  In the end, the results are same.  They pollute heavily.  But there is an air of apathy.  No body seems to care about this fouling of the air.  I hope this attitude change in the near future.  Or else, there will be a whole bunch of people afflicted with respiratory problem.  There is such a thing call Price Tag for modernity.  The Bangladesh civil society cannot afford to look the other way thinking that everything will be A-Okay if things go unchecked with the proliferation of two-stroke engine babytaxis and diesel-fueled trucks and buses.  These are truly ugly machines that mankind has invented.  Sooner they leave Bangladesh’s soil the better it would be for our people.
 

In this short article, I have covered a lot of base concerning the congestion of traffic and potential pitfall stemming from stalled vehicles on the road.  There should be more write-ups in Dhaka’s newspapers, especially in the vernacular one so that ordinary folks know the danger of traffic jam and related pollution problem.  What ideally one wants to see is Dhaka’s road unclogged and pollution free.  The government thus far is keeping a blind eye to all this hoping that the problem will be solve by it self or by a divine intervention.  We all know that none of these will happen.  The civil society has to find a realistic solution to it.  Is it possible to decentralize the government and move a big part of it outside Dhaka, may be in Joydebpur area or in Tangail?  Also, is it possible to limit the population of Dhaka?  Something drastic should be done to check the unruly growth of Dhaka city.  Instead of a planned growth, which is healthy, the city is growing like a cancer (unchecked and uncontrolled).  This might cause problem further down the road.  May be the time is ripe for calling an international meeting to address this rapid urbanization problem that is causing some concern.

One more thing.  While I was visiting Dhaka, I kept my traveling to a minimum for the fear of inhaling some foul air.  Like me thousands of other people inside Dhaka are doing just that.  Don’t blame the folks for not being on the road.  Have the air pollution free, and I will travel.
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A.H. Jaffor Ullah writes from New Orleans.  Comments should be directed at - [email protected]

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