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Roundtable on Green Cities and Transport, 20 June, National Press Club
Organized by Roads for People
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What role
does transportation play in creating a "green" city? Roads for
People organized a well-attended roundtable discussion on the issue
of a green city and transportation on the 20th of June. Maruf
Rahman of WBB Trust gave the keynote speech, emphasizing the importance
of non-motorized transport for reducing air and noise pollution and
increasing the space available for planting trees and creating safe play
spaces for children. Participants in the seminar discussed the
need to create a city in which children can bike to school, and in which
private cars are no longer allowed to take up so much space or generate
so many fumes and so much noise.
In closing,
Debra Efroymson, Regional Director of PATH Canada, talked about how
various international "disasters" are merging on one point.
Children are becoming prisoners in the home, in front of TV and video
games, as it is not safe for them to play in the streets. A
worldwide epidemic of obesity and physical inactivity are set to surpass
tobacco use as the leading preventable cause of death. Concerns
over the limited availability of oil are causing wars. Climate
change is threatening our entire climate. In the face of all these
problems, it is clear that we need to question what we are gaining from
our industrialized life, and consider a move towards non-motorized
transport that will save our city and allow our children a full, healthy
life.
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The Daily Amar Desh
The World Bank
retracts its earlier decision on rickshaw ban
Shimul Mahmud,3
March 2005
The
World Bank has retracted its earlier decision on rickshaw ban from the
roads of the capital city. The Bank
threatened that it would
discontinue its assistance to Dhaka Urban Transportation Project (DUTP)
if no steps were taken to create alternative job opportunities for the
rickshaw pullers prior to imposing rickshaw ban in future. However, the
bank itself previously set deadlines to free 8 main roads from rickshaws
as a prerequisite of financial assistance. It was due to the pressure
from the bank, the Azimpur-Gabtoli corridor was made rickshaw free in
two stages.
It may be mentioned here
that as per earlier prescription from the Bank, non-motorised transport
were supposed to be eliminated from the remaining seven main roads
within 31st July 2006. The bank recommended the banning of
rickshaws from main roads on the basis of an incomplete study. However,
they now reassessed their policy on the basis of a post impact study
after the rickshaw ban in Mirpur Road. The study report prepared by
Human Development and Research Centre (HDRC), an NGO revealed that the
rickshaw ban in Mirpur Road had threatened the existence and livelihood
of 9,000 people. Although banning of rickshaws has resulted some
decrease in link travel times along the corridor, travel costs have
increased by 10 per cent. This is because of the fact that a significant
portion of the former rickshaw passengers has forced to travel by CNG
baby taxis and taxicabs. The passengers now have to compete for limited
places in over crowed buses because of paucity of the requisite number
of buses. All these increase their sufferings to a great extent.
The report submitted to the
World Bank revealed that the net incomes of the rickshaw pullers have
decreased by 32% after the rickshaw ban. Both travel expenditure and
waiting times have increased. The sufferings have increased particularly
for short distance travellers. This is because the drivers of taxicabs
and CNG auto-rickshaws generally do not like to take trips for short
distance travel. Many often demand much higher fares for such trips. The
sufferings of the passengers have been increasing day by day due to lack
of sufficient number of buses. Although some rickshaw lanes were created
in Dhanmondi areas during time of the rickshaw ban, CNG auto-rickshaws
and private cars frequently enter into the rickshaw lanes resulting
severe traffic jams. The report also reveals that the risk of road users
have increased due to rickshaw ban. This is particularly more relevant
for women, children, elderly, the ill and the disabled. The road
congestions have now extended in all side roads of the main corridor.
Although rickshaws were banned, inappropriate uses of roads have not
been prevented so far. Now, in some places one lane or in some other
locations even two lanes are being closed for parking of cars along the
corridor.
After the review of the
HDRC report, the World Bank suggests that it would not be appropriate to
impose non-motorised transport bans if such actions increase the
sufferings of the passengers. The change of policy was communicated to
the Dhaka Transport Coordination Board by a recent letter of the bank’s
country director, Christine I Wallich. One of the officials of DTCB
informed the Amar Desh that it was due to the insistence of the Bank
they sent a plan of banning NMT from 8 corridors of the Dhaka City after
the approval of the Board of DTCB. After that the bank itself set some
deadlines and insisted time and again to impose NMT bans. Since last
December after the completion of the first phase only one road was made
NMT free. However, NMT ban could not bring any positive benefits. He
added that the bank imposed the rehabilitation of the rickshaw pullers
as a precondition for further loans. Moreover, they also raised the
issues of the plights of the passengers after the ban. It is therefore
crystal clear that no further roads will be made rickshaw free in near
future.
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