Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Monday asked police and experts from the leading engineering university to find solutions to traffic congestion in the capital.
He gave the directive during a meeting with top police officials of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and two city traffic system experts from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
The chief adviser ordered the DMP to find "some quick and effective solutions" to the traffic problems for Dhaka’s 20 million people.
"We've to ease traffic congestion. We need to find a solution immediately," he said during the meeting at the city’s State Guest House Jamuna.
Traffic police have been asked to take up some pilot anti-congestion schemes, such as restricting bus stoppage time in smaller stations to less than two minutes in 2-3 key roads, and subsequently replicate them in other roads of the city.
The BUET experts have been asked to find some home-grown solutions with the help of their students in at least one traffic corridor.
They have also been asked to fix the signalling system by using local expertise, the chief adviser’s press wing said.
Professor Moazzem Hossain of BUET, a transportation and traffic system expert, gave a presentation at the meeting.
He said the country incurs a loss of at least Taka 40,000 crore annually in traffic congestion in Dhaka city alone.
Kh Nazmul Hassan, additional commissioner, traffic of the DMP, said the traffic situation has continued to improve in the recent weeks after the deployment of more traffic policemen.
Full deployment of traffic police is expected by the end of next week, he added.
Lieutenant General (retd) Abdul Hafiz, special assistant to the Chief Adviser, Md.
Hadiuzzaman, professor of civil engineering, BUET and Faruk Ahmed, an additional commissioner of DMP, also spoke at the meeting.
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