Franchise buses face hurdles at crammed city terminals

Buses and trucks plying on the roads of capital Dhaka

Jehangir Hussain

Shifting three crammed inter-district bus terminals from Dhaka city virtually lost speed due to  land-acquisition hurdles and deterred route rationalisation and franchise bus service in the capital.

The land-acquisition process was launched for setting up five new depot-cum-terminals in city suburbs by dismantling old terminals from where vehicles spilled on roads and lanes.

The limited city roads are congested with old buses and smaller transports and goods carriers vehicles making it difficult to run Dhaka Nagar Paribahan buses on experimental basis.

Site selection for new depots was finalised two years back under an integrated plan to resolve the city’s perennial traffic congestion.

Spot checks found thousands of inter-district buses parked on roadsides at different congested areas in and around the capital including the over crowded Gabtoli, Mohakhali and Saidabad terminals.

As a result, Dhaka Nagar Paribahan buses are getting no space to park or run service to transport  the commuters.

The land-acquisition process has also been facing  delays as the government suspended release of funds, said sources.

Dhaka North City Corporation and Dhaka South City Corporation are yet get approval from the ministry concerned to start land acquisition.

"Out of five sites, land demarcation of one has been  completed. But we are waiting for the administrative order," said a Dhaka North City Corporation official.

Pending official orders, Dhaka South City Corporation recently called expression of interest for two sites under its jurisdiction

Asked why the EoI was called before completion of land acquisition, DSCC Executive Engineer Kazi Mohammad Borhanuddin said that the DSCC wants to hold feasibility studies and prepare the detailed design work to make up the time gap lost over land acquisition.

Officials said that none of the five companies that took part in the Expression of Interest was selected during  evaluation.

A team led by Dhaka South City Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh selected Gram Vaturia, Hemayetpur, Baghair, Kanchpur-South and Bhulta located under DSCC and DNCC after visiting the sites in December 2020.

These were among 10 sites suggested by Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) after a survey.

Since then, there has been no progress in getting the funds.

A special committee formed with Mayor Taposh as chairman and the Dhaka North City Mayor Atiqul Islam as co-chairman discussed issues relating to construction of new depots is yet to get the funds.

Preliminary studies showed that Gram Vaturia would be able to serve buses from 18 districts,  Hemayetpur --12 districts, Baghair -- 14 districts, Kanchpur-South --11 districts and Bhulta -- eight districts.

DTCA Executive Director Sabiha Parveen said discussions were held to arrange funding to construct the depots under public- private partnership or by the government “if the cost is high.”

"These depots were planned to be equipped with modern facilities, including washing plants, restrooms for drivers and commuters, workshops as well as for refreshment," she said.

Sabiha said that relocating the terminals was essential to create parking facilities for Dhaka  Nagar Paribahan Bus Service running over 100 buses on three routes.

Due to the delays, it has been suggested to park the city buses at the Saidabad terminal where developments are underway to increase bus-parking capacity.

But the terminal is finding it difficult to cope with increased demand of parking buses since opening the Dhaka-Mawa Highway and the Padma Bridge.

Transport experts called for  immediately implementing the stalled route-franchise project.

Economists said that Bangladesh was incurring huge losses due to tailbacks.

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