To address the rapid population growth and increasing traffic demand Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) organized an Inception Workshop for Mid-term Review and Updating of Revised Strategic Transport Plan (RSTP) for DTCA at CIRDAP on Thursday.
DTCA Executive Director Neelima Akhter presided over the program. Road Transport and Highways Division secretary A B M Amin Ullah Nuri was present as the chief guest of the program.
Apart from DTCA, different organizations such as, Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA), Bangladesh Railway (BR), Roads and Highways Department (RHD), Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (RAJUK) and others are working in their relevant sectors and has undertaken several initiatives as projects. As mentioned earlier, some of the projects listed in RSTP are under implementation, however, there are also few other projects initiatives ongoing now which were not propose by the RSTP.
As the transport sector as well as Dhaka city’s demography is very dynamic in nature, there is an urgency to take necessary steps to overcome challenges. To update the Strategic Transport Plan, DTCA has taken the project for the review and update the strategic transport plan for the DTCA area. This has been planned with the assistance of ADB using Technical Assistance Special Fund and Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia & the Pacific.
The updated Strategic Transport plan will dictate the future of Transport system in Dhaka City. This assignment has been awarded to the consortium of OCG- SMEC- BCL-ACE-MSL-PRIMEX.
Team leader of the project T. Waichi presented the inception report at workshop. Then the Project Director Mohammad Rabiul Alam invited the participants for discussion and the DTCA Executive Director stated that the comments and suggestions from the stakeholders and urban transport experts would help the project team immensely.
The participants advised DTCA and the Consultant team to carefully look into several issues like proper determination of traffic demand, selection of trip purposes and transport modes. DTCA has promised to engage all the concerned organizations and agencies. There will be several stakeholder discussions, workshops and seminars for this work to make the strategic plan sustainable and efficient.
Through this workshop DTCA have requested the sincere cooperation from all the relevant organizations to support the activities which will be carried out in next two and half years.