Tuhin Shubhra Adhikary

Roads and Highways Department will not make public its annual survey report on road conditions in its entirety to avoid, what its officials say, public criticism.

The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) is going to expand two major roads around Dhaka as part of developing the long-awaited inner ring road, aiming to reduce traffic congestion in the capital.

The Planning Commission has asked for an explanation regarding the amount metro rail authorities sought for consultancy services for the construction of a new metro line.

Passenger train fares are set to increase from May 4 as Bangladesh Railway has decided to stop rebating fares of passengers travelling over 100 kilometres

The government has three high-powered committees to ensure roads are safe. These committees meet infrequently, and when they meet, they make almost identical decisions. And those decisions rarely come to fruition.

The entire road transport sector has long been plagued by multifaceted problems, which are worsening every day amid sheer apathy from the authorities responsible for ensuring road safety.

The bus involved in yesterday’s accident that left 14 dead in Faridpur would not have been on the road had the government not caved in to transport associations’ demand for allowing over 20 years old buses on roads.

Thirteen people died in Faridpur this morning in a head-on collision that would not have happened if operators of the vehicles involved had followed existing laws and rules

Smaller rise in traffic through Bangabandhu Bridge

All three family members, along with two others, died after being struck by the broken mooring line of a passenger launch.

The victims include three of a family

The numbers of road accidents and deaths saw a sharp rise in the first three months of this year compared to the corresponding period last year. Experts blamed the spike on the authorities’ failure to implement specific measures and a lack of commitment to ensure road safety.

The government in September 2016 approved a project to turn a 190km two-lane road from Elenga to Rangpur into a four-lane highway with the view to boosting connectivity between the capital and the northern region.

The Roads and Highways Department is implementing most of its projects to turn two-lane highways into four-lane ones without safety audits, which, according to experts, is a major compromise on road safety.

Two Chinese companies have been barred from a project for a year over “fraudulent practices” in connection with the procurement process of 137 buses for bus rapid transit (BRT) services.

Laying of the main railway line from Bhanga to Jashore has already been completed and the authorities are carrying out different tests on this section with an aim to open the entire Dhaka-Jashore line for commercial operation within four months.

After a road crash, mobs often vandalise and torch vehicles and beat up drivers they deem responsible. The government is now going to make such activities punishable under the Road Transport Act 2018.

Most of the public-private partnership projects that were listed to be implemented under the Bangladesh-Japan joint initiative could not make any significant progress over the last six years because of multiple problems.

Bangladesh Railway is reviving its plan to build a 214km rail line from Bhanga to Kuakata via Madaripur, Barishal and Payra port following recent instructions from the prime minister.

The government is going to enact a law to introduce a uniform ticketing system for all public transport services including metro rail, buses, trains and launches.