Editorial
Managing city's unwieldy traffic!
Answer lies in building new roads and creating adequate parking spaces
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP)'s ongoing drive to enforce movements of different modes of vehicles along designated lanes and debarring private cars from parking along streets reflect a certain commitment on the part of traffic police authorities to bring discipline on the roads. Some new measures have led to an untangling of traffic mess in certain places and to that extent these are welcome. Yet, given the serious physical and infra-structural constraints of limited road space relative to the size and population of the metropolis, flawed signalling arrangements and, above all, utterly inadequate parking facilities, such measures are bound to be mere palliatives to a malignant syndrome.
The focus of the traffic police at the moment is on use of lanes and penalising illegal parking. Demand by public transport operators to allocate the first lane rather than the second one may be understandable, but can it guarantee their pulling up at designated stoppages to offload and on-load rather than doing these just about anywhere. For the latter has not only multiplied risk for passengers but also aggravated traffic congestion.
As far as prohibition against parking of private vehicles along the streets goes, we have to say that it can at best be done in an extremely selective way rather than realistically enforceable as a general rule given the acute paucity of parking space along or adjoining the shopping enclaves, high-rise buildings that have mushroomed all around.
The only durable and sustainable options relate to building new roads, bypasses and creating sufficient new parking spaces in the city. An all-out effort would have to be made in these directions without ado.
In the immediate term, the government should vigorously examine and provide for the idea of engaging the private sector by giving all sorts of incentives in the act of creating parking spaces in vacant places, even if away from the city centre, and in-the-not-so-vacant spaces it may be encouraged to set up multi-tier parking lots purely as a commercial enterprise. It can be a viable business for them on a rental basis as is done in most metropolises around the world. The DCC could be involved in a catalytic role for such a venture.
As for short-term measures, an approach through trial and error taking into consideration the views of all parties concerned would be advisable to reach practicable solutions. Above all, strict adherence to traffic rules and incorruptibility of those engaged in implementing rules are the basic prerequisites for success of the present endeavour by DMP.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments