Chief Adviser Directs Police, Experts to Resolve Traffic Issues

Chief Adviser, Professor Muhammad Yunus, has today instructed the police and experts from the country’s leading engineering university to devise solutions for the ongoing traffic congestion in the capital.

During a meeting with senior officials from Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and two traffic system specialists from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), the chief adviser emphasised the urgency of the matter.

He directed the DMP to implement "quick and effective solutions" to address the severe traffic problems affecting the city’s 20 million residents.

"We must ease traffic congestion. A solution needs to be found immediately," he asserted during the meeting held at the State Guest House Jamuna.

Traffic police have been tasked with trialling pilot anti-congestion schemes, including limiting bus stoppage times to under two minutes at smaller stations on 2-3 key roads, with plans to extend this across the city.

The BUET experts were also instructed to develop home-grown solutions, involving their students in at least one traffic corridor. Additionally, they were asked to resolve issues with the city's traffic signalling system using local expertise, according to the chief adviser’s press wing.

Professor Moazzem Hossain, a traffic and transportation expert from BUET, gave a presentation at the meeting. He highlighted that traffic congestion in Dhaka results in an annual loss of at least Taka 40,000 crore.

KH Nazmul Hassan, additional commissioner of traffic for the DMP, reported that the traffic situation has shown improvement in recent weeks due to the deployment of additional traffic police officers. Full deployment is expected by the end of next week, he added.

Lieutenant General (retd) Abdul Hafiz, special assistant to the Chief Adviser, and Md. Hadiuzzaman, professor of civil engineering at BUET, along with DMP’s additional commissioner, Faruk Ahmed, also addressed the meeting.