Photo: Zaid Amir Islam/Driknews

For a national rapid transit system

Tanvir A. Khandaker

It's high time for our developing nation for a National Rapid Transit System (NRTS) in Dhaka and all the major cities . NRT System must be an integral part of our current Transportation strategy. A well oiled NRT System can add an additional 2% to our annual GDP growth rate from the direct and indirect benefit to the local and national economy (exp. foreign tourism). A modern NRT system can jump start our 21st century urban planning and development programs in all metropolitan cities. The rapid growth of motor vehicles in our leading cities (Dhaka) is causing very high levels of air pollution, green house gas emissions including taking over public spaces through unregulated parking. This issue should be addressed as a matter of extreme priority before 'it's too late and too costly 'for our country and adding significant burden to our national debt. Time has come to get serious about converting our inner cities travel markets into time, cost, reliability, and convenience equivalent mass transit markets with increased productivity, competitiveness and economic growth producing least amount of carbon footprint.

A proven strategy could be a rhythmic transfer between the Hybrid/ Electric BRTC buses and the NRTsystem on prescribed time slots which can attract passengers from private cars to public transportation. The long overdue BRTC Bus system overhaul should include replacements and upgrade of buses in its existing fleet, so modern and cleaner buses can be introduced as part of our National environmental Strategy. A tunnel based underground system is most applicable should be easy to design and implement with least amount of displacement of existing infrastructure and minimal individual ramifications and land use.

National Rapid Transit System (NRT) can be easily integrated with Bangladesh Railway network which is also in dire need for overhaul both in its fleets and design. More than 160 cities have rapid transit systems, totaling more than 8,000 km (4,900 miles) of track and 7,000 stations including in India and Pakistan. To secure a leadership role as a regional player a National Rapid Transit System (NRT) and modern BRTC bus system must be in place. We recommend Tk. 10 crore feasibility study of 2013 should look into this perilous issue from long term national perspective not a short term local one, it's not about fighting the fires its about preventing it from happening in the first place. Although the intentions are commendable, Tk. 10,000 crore (US$1.5 Billion) is still a lot of money for small growing economy like ours and should not be wasted in creating an unmanageable quagmire in our principal place of business.

We can learn a lot from New York (10 million people) MTA Subway system and could be our role model even in a limited phased scale for efficiency , reliably and profitability. The per capita daily benefit of New York MTA Subway is between a high of $43.75 to a low of $12.50 and it did not happen by chance.

In order implement the NRT System we can focus on several transportation strategies with larger cities the underground system may extend only to the limits of the inner city, or to its inner ring of suburbs with Public Buses making frequent station stops. A common strategy around the world is to use the buses as the feeder system to transport people to the transit stops and use the transits to carry them to the city center or other bus routes. NRT System should and must comply with international accessibility standards, to allow both disabled people and those with wheeled baggage. NRT systems are public properties, and may suffer from security problems like terrorism and petty crimes a modern Transit Police Department should be established as an effective safeguard measure. These security measures can be integrated to protect revenues and prevent current future terrorist threats.

National Rapid Transit System (NRT) can be financed through a creative corporate finance strategy with foreign direct investment. It is still unclear if the current plan would further add to our debt burden for our children and grandchildren which is 38.2% of our annual GDP (2009). Bangladesh needs US$ 7.5 billion a year to finance the implementation of the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals so it can no longer afford to waste anymore dollars for debt service without a profitable outcome.

The writer is KDR Morgan Limited, Inc. E-mail: tk@kdrmorgan.com