Why build U-loops only to demolish them later?

It's quite disappointing to see the fate of two U-loops built on Dhaka's airport road two years ago to ease traffic congestion there. These U-loops, despite being successful to some extent to serve their purpose, were recently demolished to construct the country's first bus rapid transit (BRT-3). Reportedly, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) built these structures spending Tk 3 crore, although they knew those would be demolished for BRT construction. The question is: Why would they spend money on a project despite knowing its future? This, once again, shows how unplanned our development activities are and how public money is often wasted on arbitrary projects.

Many crores of taka have already been spent on various projects to ease Dhaka's obnoxious traffic congestions, with little improvement in sight. Over the past 15 years, the government reportedly spent Tk 119 crore to modernise and digitalise Dhaka's traffic signal system, but all the money went down the drain because of such inefficient planning. Building footbridges, footpaths, and roads, and then dismantling them to make way for some other projects have rather become a norm. The lack of foresight is evident in most such projects. Reportedly, 11 U-loops were built under such a project undertaken in 2016. Now, two of them have been demolished. Who knows what will happen to the rest if other new projects are taken up?

Dhaka's traffic condition is one of the worst in the world. The city has been ranked 10th among 228 cities in terms of poor traffic management in the World Traffic Index 2020. Also, according to Buet's Accident Research Institute (ARI), the country lost an estimated Tk 55,685 crore last year due to traffic congestion in Dhaka alone. Therefore, we definitely need projects to solve its traffic congestion, but those need to be well-planned and well-coordinated and certainly part of a bigger plan for the entire city's traffic management. No projects should be taken up arbitrarily without considering their sustainability.

In this particular case, we think the DNCC made a major blunder by building U-loops that they knew would be demolished soon for the sake of another project. Reportedly, the U-loops will be built again once the BRT project is complete. This means that the public will have to pay twice for the same project, which is totally unacceptable. The DNCC authorities must be held accountable for such wastage of public money. The government also should take a lesson from this incident and ensure no such wastage out of flawed planning ever takes place.