Introduce subway
Dhaka is the most densely populated mega-city in the world, no doubt about that and at present it is one of the dirtiest cities as well. Rate of pollution has also got a significant dimension. But no remedial measure has been taken so far.
For no reason the subway project has been pending till 2002.
At present there is crisis of fuel all over the world and that is the reason why price of fuel has been increased a couple of times. Bangladesh has also adjusted the fuel price but the effect is not very good as the general people are suffering. The bus fare in Dhaka has been increased abnormally without following the government decision.
It is true that the Bangladesh government gives a huge amount of subsidy in the petroleum sector but how long will the process go on? A huge amount of fuel is wasted every day in Dhaka due to the traffic congestion. The environment is becoming toxic day by day. Most of the cities have developed their transport plan based on the population, fuel consumption & pollution rate. Some other factors are comfort, security, affordability & accessibility.
First of all, we have to make the metropolis congestion & pollution free. Decentralization is absolutely impossible here but relocation is possible. To do that a high speed mass transport is required. By that mode of transport people would be able to move from city entry points to the centre within a few minutes. Then buses would be used to communicate with the suburban areas. Congestion would be removed & pollution would be minimized.
However, to get such an environment a subway should be introduced as early as possible. Metro rail is totally free from emission & cost of electricity consumption is much less. Thousands of crores of taka is wasted due to congestion, high consumption & subsidy, whereas the cost of total set-up of the underground metro rail is only Tk 7,000 crore.
Monorail/sky-train is not the right choice for not only less passenger catering capacity but also because there is always a speed constraint for the elevated structures. Moreover, for monorail/sky-train the existing electric lines have to be shifted to the underground & new lines would have to be used for supplying electricity to the trains. Again people feel psychologically stressed to go upward. Hong Kong has a single light rail line among all the metro rail lines & the line has totally failed to meet the requirements & they have treated introduction of that line as a great mistake.
The government should emphasize the mass transport (underground), instead of short term waste of money.
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