Traffic congestion in the capital eats up around Tk 20,000 crore a year, an expert said yesterday, quoting a government report.

Some 32 lakh business hours are also lost to the curse every day.

Prof Akter Mahmud of Jahangirnagar University's Urban and Regional Planning department made the comments, citing the Revised Strategic Transport Plan (RSTP) of 2016, at a programme in the capital's LGED auditorium.

Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC), an independent think-tank, and state-owned Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics jointly organised the two-day event, titled “Urban Poverty: Challenges and Solutions Conference”, in partnership with the World Bank and the UNDP.

Prof Mahmud presented a paper on the challenges of mass transport during the day's second session titled “Urban Poverty: Access to Services”. The session was chaired by Prof Sekandar Khan, vice-chancellor of the East Delta University.

He used the RSTP figures in his paper.

According to the RSTP, he said, the city dwellers make around three crore trips every day. Of them, some 47 percent involve buses, nine percent cars while 32 percent are made in rickshaws.

“Dhaka city's urban transport system is unique and predominantly road-based,” he added.

Some 45 percent city households are from the low income group while 51 percent from the medium income group. Only four percent of the households are from the high income group, said the teacher, quoting the RSTP.

Some 97 percent of the low and medium income groups use public transport, he said, adding that only three percent of the higher income group uses such transport.

Quoting the report, the JU teacher also said only 400km road in Dhaka has footpath although it is a compulsory part of the road. Moreover, around 40 percent of the footpaths are occupied by street vendors, shops, garbage bins and construction materials.

He made some recommendations to improve the city's traffic situation: discouraging all auto-run transport infrastructural investment and encouraging investments in bus and mass rapid transit.

“Above all, there is a need for strong political will to develop an affordable public transport system in the city,” he added.

Dhushyanth Raju of the World Bank presented a paper on understanding the variation in health and nutrition “outcomes” in Bangladesh's cities.

He said Bangladesh's position was lower than many other countries in relation to the urban health outcomes.

Local government bodies are responsible for ensuring public health services, and preventive and curative care through public facilities and licencing of private providers, but institutional reviews suggest poor performance by the bodies, he said.

“Private practices and pharmacies are the main providers of health services,” he added.

Liaquat Ali Choudhury, senior research fellow of the PPRC, presented a paper on the service realities in metropolitan cities and small towns in Bangladesh.

Choudhury said the growing urban population flow is building up serious pressure on urban facilities.

Quoting a PPRC survey, he said urban households in Bangladesh are obliged to change their residences relatively more in large cities than in small townships because of house rents.

Some 38.5 percent households change their residences in Dhaka citing rise in house rent as the main reason. In Chittagong it is 34.4 percent and in small towns 17.4 percent, he added.