Transport projects yet to yield expected benefits: Businesses

The country's transportation sector has significantly improved in the last decade, thanks to increased investment in mega projects, but it has failed to generate benefits at the desired level due to unplanned and poorly managed development, experts and business leaders said at a roundtable on Saturday.

They also pointed out that the lack of coordination and efficiency in the formulation and implementation stages of projects has resulted in additional costs and deprived people of benefits due to prolonged delays.

"The government should expedite the implementation of important infrastructure projects, including the Dhaka-Chattogram Elevated Expressway and the Matarbari deep seaport," said Syed Ershad Ahmed, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh.

"The government should take a national logistic strategy immediately," he said at the roundtable "Investment for Infrastructure Development" organised by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) at a hotel in the capital.

At the event, Planning Minister MA Mannan said the country has made a lot of progress in the transportation sector, particularly road development, but the rail sector lagged behind due to a historically lower priority.

"The construction of the Dhaka-Chattogram railway double line is underway. After its completion, the necessity of the elevated expressway will be assessed," he added.  

In a keynote presentation, Professor Shamsul Hoque, director of the Accident Research Institute (ARI) at BUET, proposed increasing the length of access-controlled roads up to 2-5% of the total road length in the country. He also emphasised constructing elevated roads instead of at grade to reduce land use by eliminating the need for embankments and slope maintenance.

Former principal secretary Abul Kalam Azad said now it takes about 4.5 hours to travel from Mongla port to Dhaka thanks to the inauguration of the Padma Bridge.

"About 93% of vehicles operating on this route are carrying cargo. The bridge has impacted positively on business, trade, and investment," he added.

ICC President Mahbubur Rahman said the movement of traffic to Chattogram is expected to increase manifold. But the existing four-lane highway will not be able to facilitate the smooth movement of vehicles.

"The economic importance of this route is immense, considering Chattogram Port connectivity as an access point to the international market," he added.

Mir Nasir Hossain, former president of the FBCCI, said many things have been done, but in a very unplanned and unmanaged way.