NORTH SOUTH UNIVERSITY

TOPIC: Transport system and problem in Bangladesh

NAME: Nishat Tasneem

ID: 2011769625

COURSE: CEE-100

SECTION: 01

SESSION: SPRING 2020

 Transport system and problem in Bangladesh

Abstract:

A transportation system refers to movement of persons or goods consisting of three

components like vehicle (equipment), the guide way (link and nodes that together from the

network) & operation plan. Bangladesh transport system can be divided into five types, which

are 1) Highway 2) Railway 3) Waterway 4) Airway 5) Pipeline. The responsibility of

maintenance and development of the transport system mainly lies in Roads and Highway

Department (RHD) for roads, for railways it is Bangladesh Railways (BR). Waterways are

preserved by the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA). Civil Aviation

Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) has the responsibility of airways of Bangladesh. Despite the

gradual growth of the transport sector, the overall performance of the sector has been generally

weak because it faces major problems while developing and maintaining the transport system.

Introduction:

Transport is one of the main infrastructure sectors which act as a stimulator of

development and economic growth of the world. The transport system is the means and

equipment necessary for the movement of passengers or goods. Transport infrastructure

comprising of roads, railways, airways, waterways, pipelines, bus-stands, port, and terminals.

We can see that developing countries are trying to improve their transportation system by

increasing transport routes.

 Transport of Bangladesh can be divided into two sectors, namely 1. External Transport

2. Internal transport. Both external and internal transport has public and private modes.

External transport means connecting the country with the world. Bangladesh adopted the “the

Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) on Asian Highway Network on November 18,2003.

Bangladesh railway is connecting to the outer world through TAR Network, SAARC Route,

SASEC Corridors, BIMSTEC, BCIMR Route, and Silk Road. Airway plays an important role in

external transport through three international airports. In waterway, the two ports at the Bay of

Bengal are important for importing and exporting goods.

Again the internal transport system of Bangladesh refers to the movement within the

country supported by land transport and waterways. Highways include a total of 21,121.757km

roads which are the main mean of good and passenger transport. The railway is preferable for

mass transport. Bangladesh has a railway system of 2,835km. 26 international and 8 domestic

destinations is covered by the national flag carrier airline Biman Bangladesh. Many more private

airlines meet the demand of the whole population. As a riverine country, Bangladesh has an

advantage in waterways. There is 5,150 – 8,046km of navigable waterways, including 2,575-

3,5058km major cargo route. In 2013, Bangladesh had about 2,950km of natural gas pipeline.

Situation:

Bangladesh has witnessed rapid improvement since independence showing an overall

annual growth rate of nearly 8.2% and 8.4 % for freight and passenger transport respectively,

having a remarkable improvement in the last 20 years. The public sector is mainly responsible

for the development and maintenance of transport infrastructure. In recent years, private sector
has also played important roles in air transport, both domestic and international. However private

sector operation is limited in railway and waterway. The most leading mode of passenger and

freight movement is road transport. The number of registered motor vehicles on road increased

gradually by 62% over the last era, from 3,39,448 in 1990 to 5,51,011 in 2000. But the roads are

ruled by non-motorized vehicle, specifically rickshaw which are over 8,00,000 at the roads of

Bangladesh. Waterway and Railway is less expensive, better for moving within the country but

don’t have good service. For goods transport waterway is the best option. Expensive per unit

for a distance of 1,000 km on road is €-Cent 8.8 (-38%). for 1,000 km in railway is €-Cent

7.40. 1.95 for 1,000 km in waterway cost per ton-km. Professor Jamilur Reza Choudhury said

“Jamuna Bridge was constructed nearly 20 years back, and it’s still in good shape. Padma

Bridge is also being constructed maintaining the international standards.” Both the NLTP and

the IMTP is highlighting on long-term plan for each of the transport sub-sector specially railways

Dhaka is based on raod transport system, but the amount of road is much less than then

the minimum requirements. There is only 9 % road oath to have 25% among them 6% ofthem
are paved, in which 62 km functional primary and 108 km secondary and 221 km connector road

serve the city transport service. Public transports are the dominators at the city road but due to

many reasons these facilities are unavailable at many places.

Transport System in Bangladesh:

The government approved the National Land transport policy (NLTP) in April,2004 and

is actively formulating the Integrated Multi-modal Transport Policy(IMTP) to preserve a stable

transport infrastructure in Bangladesh. Transport infrastructure of Bangladesh are divided into

land and water base transport

HIGHWAY:

Road is a route between two destinations, which has been either paved or worked on to

enable transportation by way of carriages for caring personnel or goods. The road network of

Bangladesh is consisted of six categories road: national highways (designated by a number

preceded by “N”) in numbers 3,790.861 km, regional highways (“R” numbers) is 4,206.121km

and zilla or district road (“Z” number) is 13,121.757km, upazila road, union road and village

road. 91% of the total road is under RHD. RHD has 4507 bridge and 13751 culverts under its

management.
 Road transport has expanded the most over last 50 years. In 1974 there were only

461.8km of metaled roads. In 1997, 20,000km road was paved by RHD and in 2000 it upsurges

from 14,949km to 21,174km. In December 2000, over 406,000 motorized vehicles were plying

on the roads of Bangladesh. RHS, BRTA, BRTC, DTCA under the Ministry of Transport and

Communication, LGED under the Ministry of Local Government are directly involved into this

sector.
 RAILWAYS:

Railway is a means of transport, on vehicles running on tracks parallel to each other.

After creation of Bangladesh in 1971, it in inherited a Railway Board which was responsible for

the functioning of the railway network. Bangladesh Railway has been separated from the MOC

and now under the Ministry of Railways. On 14 April 2008, for starting a communication

between India-Bangladesh Dhaka-Kolkata train was established . Railways are the main mean

of transporting fuels such as oil all over Bangladesh.

 Bangladesh railway is divided into two zones. The east zone has a workshop

division in Pahartali and west zone has in Saidpur. About 32% of the total area Bangladesh is

effectively covered by railways Bangladesh Railway of which 901km is board gauge and

1833km is meter gauge. In 2009, Bangladesh Railway had 34,168 employees. The railway made

8,135 million passenger-kilometers and 677 million tonne-kilometers. Improving Railway of

Bangladesh by extending railways to meet objectives, assimilate railway network in a multi-

modal approach, modernizing its loco workshops can be the best asset to the country.

WATERWAY:

Transportation done by vessel floating or merged in the water bodies like ocean, sea,

river, canal etc. with the help of buoyancy which can involve ferries, ships, submarines etc.

Bangladesh is a riverine country of which 8,433 km is navigable by larger vessels in the rainy

season (5,968 km of which is classified for navigation) while in the dry season about 4,800 km is

navigable (classified 3,865 km). There are about 22 major ports and 448 secondary in the
waterways network across the country. Two international port namely Chittagong port and

Mongla port and one under construction port “Parabondor”. Bangladesh waterways are

classified into 4 classes, such as Four truck route (I), Eight truck route (II), Twelve truck

route (III), Seasonal (IV).

For safe and effective navigation and other uses BIWTA's Hydrography

Department maintains the waterways. Under certain specific legal provisions namely Ports Act

1908 and Port Rules 1966 Ports are operated and managed. BIWTA is now dredging 12 rivers,

carrying out capital dredging in 53 rivers, and working to rescue several rivers from

encroachment. Thirty-five dredgers are being purchased by BIWTA while government

organizations and private sector companies own about 200 dredgers.

AIRWAY:

Airway is a transportation system for moving passengers or goods by air which

ensures safety, speed and comfort. The air travel demand in Bangladesh has increased rapidly.

The average growths of air passenger and cargo movements were 9.7% and 7.05% respectively
in the last 5 years. Along with Bangladesh Biman, the private sector have the responsibility of

Air cargo and STOL services. (Bengal Airlines (ABA), Air Parabat, GMG Airlines, Omni

Airlines) by the government.

There are three international airports namely Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet anong

with eight domestic airports. Domestic and international flight’s air passenger traffic was 8.9

million in 2018-an astounding growth of 1433.89 per cent. The growth of air cargo increased

from 39,359 tons in 1990 to 384,291 tons in 2018-a growth of 876.37 per cent. In 2018 average

daily flight was 250-130 international and 120 domestic. Cargo flight was 10.

Problems In Transport System Of Bangladesh:

The institutional set-up for planning, development and management of the

transportation sector suffers from many serious insufficiencies which lead to many problems.

Due to these problems the improvement of the country lack behind. Problems in transport

systems are mentioned below.

HIGHWAYS:

The cost of per kilometer road construction is $2.5 million to $11.9 million, which

is the highest in the world.

1. Bangladesh have the highest rate of construction cost per kilometer which

is $2.5 million to $11.9 million,

 2. BUET CE department professor Shamsul Haque said "If any small hole is

created on any road it's not fixed immediately. The authorities concerned wait

for repair until most parts of the road get damaged. We should come out of

such practice as it increases the maintenance cost."

3. RTHD secretary MAN Siddique said they are not getting the cooperation of

the transport owners in controlling overloaded vehicles. due to this the

quality of the road are being damaged and possibilities accidents are amplified

4. There is no effective coordination among the institutions that leads to

severe competition among the modes

5. Narrow highway road, different vehicle speed, congestion, narrow shoulder

width, any time road cutting are a few major problems.

6. Lack of road sing and marking, lack of proper sight distance, lack of traffic

control and not abiding by the laws lead to death of people.

7. Bangladesh highway system lack in developing express highways.

8. Due to limitations vertical and horizontal curves in our roadways are not

properly designed.

9. Illegal market and parking at highway.

RAILWAYS:

1. Railways do not have double way track.

2. Insufficient budget since 1971 to 2020.

3. Gauge confederacy.

4. Overaged obsoleted signaling and tracks.

5. Scarcity of rolling stocks. Specifically, passenger coaches and wagons.

 6. Due to the existing single way track, the passengers and trains have to wait at

the terminal for long time and it increases the possibilities of accidents.

AIRWAYS:

1. Airway is comparatively expensive and the aircraft are mostly backdated.

2. The maintenance and security of the airport is weak and technology and

work process is not modernized.

3. The condition of runway is not up to the mark.

4. Lack of high aviation training and lack of stimulation based

training which results in inexperienced pilots, they can’t handle midair

problems and plane crash.

5. Lack of terminals at international airport which cause consumption of time.

WATERWAY:
 1. Horn and siren and searchlight don’t function properly.

2. Due to heavy traffic watercraft take risk during foggy and stormy weather.

3. Overloading, most of the time the vessels are overloaded.

4. The vessels are not designed and constructed by experts and skilled naval

architects

5. The rivers have dried up and need dredging. 500 dredgers are needed. As

dredging is a high-cost project, there are limitations of the budget.

6. River erosion, water pollution and river encroachment create major

problems.

Conclusion:

Bangladesh is a country of huge population. To meet the demand of these people a well-

developed, well-maintained and technologically developed transport system. But due to lack of

proper survey this system has lacked behind and problems are faced.

But if compared with the condition after the liberation war the country has improved a

lot. In the last 20 years the total transport system has a drastic change. More roads are paved.

More vehicles are registered. Waterways have more watercrafts to meet the increasing demand.

Airways are connecting the country with the whole world. Due to the geographical position

Bangladesh is a important terminal for international flight. Railway is developing. Metro rail is

under-constraction for mass transition. Bangladesh have many opportunities to prosper in this

sector.