Successive governments over the last two decades have spent more than Tk100 crore on upgrading traffic light systems but have failed to make any meaningful impact on Dhaka’s chaotic streets, ultimately wasting a large amount of public money. Ironically, the interim government has learned nothing from its predecessors and has only exacerbated both the failures and the financial waste.
This time, the Muhammad Yunus-led administration has installed semi-automatic traffic signals at seven major intersections in the city at a cost of around Tk10 crore.
Experts deem the outcome likely to be similar to past efforts. They argue that without strict enforcement of traffic rules, simply installing traffic lights will prove futile.
While previous attempts were made under four foreign-funded projects, the latest initiative has been financed from the own sources of Dhaka’s two city corporations.
This has raised concerns about the justification for spending taxpayers’ money on a project that appears to lack proper planning and does not reflect lessons learned from past failures.
Previous failed attempts
In 2001, a Tk25 crore loan from the World Bank funded the installation of electronic traffic lights at major Dhaka intersections. However, most lights were damaged within a few years.
A second attempt in 2012, allocating Tk7.17 crore from a Tk30 crore project, also funded by the World Bank, involved repairing the damaged lights and adding solar panels and countdown timers. This project, too, failed.
Similar attempts were made in 2015 and 2017 to install a semi-automatic system and an advanced Intelligent Traffic System (ITS), respectively. Funded by the World Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), these projects, costing Tk23.60 crore and Tk52 crore, failed to improve traffic flow due to poor execution.
Professor Shamsul Hoque from the Department of Civil Engineering at BUET told TIMES of Bangladesh that the government must first bring discipline to the roads for traffic signals to be effective.
“The government needs to implement measures to prevent buses from competing with each other at intersections to pick up passengers and ensure that parking is prohibited,” he said.
“Additionally, vending activities at intersections should be banned, and pedestrians must follow traffic rules. Only then will the safety and efficiency of intersections improve.”
What’s in the latest project
The latest project was carried out by Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), with technical support from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet).
Engineers from Buet locally developed the semi-automatic traffic lights for this “experimental” project.
The newly installed traffic signals, covering key intersections from Hotel InterContinental to the Airport intersection, have already been operational since 31 August.
According to officials, DSCC installed traffic signals at two intersections with a budget of around Tk2 crore, while DNCC set up signals at five intersections, from Sonargaon to Jahangirgate, at a cost of Tk7 crore.
When asked why they are proceeding with the project despite four previous failed attempts, even with substantial investments, DNCC’s superintending engineer Khandakar Mahbub Alam declined to comment, stating that he was not authorised to do so.
An official from the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA), speaking to TIMES of Bangladesh on the condition of anonymity, suggested that instead of the city corporations, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police should have been entrusted with the project to ensure its successful implementation.
How the project was initiated
Following the mass uprising in August last year, the road traffic system in Dhaka completely collapsed. One month after the interim government took office, Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus called on transport engineers to discuss the worsening traffic situation and to seek suggestions for improvement.
BUET Professor Hadiuzzaman attended the meeting as an expert.
“We proposed six key suggestions, and the fifth was to reduce the traffic signal cycle time. Vehicles were waiting at intersections for up to 20 minutes,” said Professor Hadiuzzaman.
He further explained to TIMES of Bangladesh that the chief adviser suggested developing traffic signal systems domestically to avoid reliance on imported spare parts.
Professor Hadiuzzaman emphasised that the primary aim of the project was not to reduce traffic congestion immediately, but to instil a sense of discipline among the police, drivers, and pedestrians about following traffic rules.
To truly reduce traffic congestion in Dhaka, he added, the government must take action against illegal and unfit vehicles and ban parking on roads, particularly within 50 metres of intersections.
