Govt limiting cars per family: Obaidul Quader

The government is setting a limit to the number of cars a family can own through a proposal in the draft road transport and traffic bill 2015 in an attempt to curb the capital's traffic congestion.

Informing this while replying to lawmakers' queries in parliament yesterday, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said enactment of the bill and Bangladesh road transport authority bill 2015, an alternative to Motor Vehicle Ordinance, 1983, is at the final stage.

Construction of the 192-kilometre Dhaka-Chittagong four lane highway is nearly complete and it will be inaugurated in May by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said the minister.

"Last Sunday, I cancelled my air ticket and returned to Dhaka by road from Chittagong...I have instructed engineers at different points to complete the works of the finishing layer quickly," he added.

Obaidul said the government plans to construct, if foreign donations were available, a second Padma bridge at the Paturia-Goalanda point.

Moreover, 68 of some 227 accident black spots and places experiencing traffic congestion, identified through a survey in different highways, have been revamped, he said.

The rectification in 15 spots is going to start soon under the Joydevpur-Chandra-Tangail-Elenga four-lane highway project, said Obaidul.

For the remaining 144, implementation of the Improvement of Road Safety at Black Spots of National Highways project, involving Tk 165 crore, has begun, the minister said delivering his scripted answers.