Dhaka's automated traffic signal system is not just money going down the drain, but also a costly lesson as to how plans involving some ambitious experiments to modernise the capital's traffic control system, including digitising signal lights, installing timer countdown and digital display boards in some major intersections go in waste.
According to sources over the years, several projects have been launched with the goal of moving from manual police traffic control to an intelligent and automated system.
Over the last 25 years, the government has spent hundreds of crores of taka to upgrade Dhaka's traffic signal system. But nothing seems to have worked, as traffic in the city of more than 2 crore people remains as chaotic.
In some cases, it has turned worse as traffic cops reverted to the old system of manual control, using their stretched hands to control vehicular movement.
A high official of police told The Daily Observer that this is the core of the problem. Different government agencies (Dhaka Metropolitan Police - DMP, Dhaka South City Corporation - DSCC, Dhaka North City Corporation - DNCC, RAJUK, and various utility companies work in very little or no coordination among themselves. When WASA digs a road to fix a pipe, they don't check a map for traffic signal cables. There is no single authority responsible for integrated urban traffic management.
Urban transport experts blame thoughtless traffic management and unrealistic projects for the situation. Poor road condition, rickety public transport, jaywalking and movement of non-motorised vehicles also contribute to worsening the gridlock.
In the 2012-13 financial year, under the CASE project, the two Dhaka city corporations developed and made active the signals, including the installation of solar panels and timer countdown systems at 70 crossings and 29 new signals in the city at a cost of around Tk 96.71 lakh.
Under the same project in the 2018-2019 financial year, signals were made active again at 43 crossings, and new signals were installed at seven crossings in the city at a cost of Tk 7 crore.
In the 2018-2019 financial year, under the same project, remote controls were distributed among the traffic police to control traffic at 21 road crossings.
There have also been at least 17 big and 14 small digital display boards set up at key points by the city corporation authorities at a cost of Tk 27 crore.
The DTCA initiated the Dhaka Integrated Traffic Management Project in July 2015 to bring Dhaka's four crossings-Paltan, Phulbari, Mohakhali, and Gulshan-1-under the Intelligent Transportation System at a cost of Tk 52.08 crore.
The ITS system had been installed at these crossings by November 2019, but it never worked.
Lastly, in June 2023, the DNCC started an artificial intelligence-based traffic system on a trial basis at Gulshan 2 in Dhaka at a cost of Tk 60.57 lakh, which is still ongoing.
In 2001, Dhaka's traffic control system saw a major change with the introduction of automatic signals under Dhaka Urban Transport Project. With funding from the World Bank, nine traffic signals were set up in 2001-02 and 59 more in 2005, spending Tk 13 crore.
It soon became dysfunctional mainly due to poor maintenance, the WB said in a report to the government in 2006. Officials say the 68 automatic signal lights were meant to synchronise the signal system, but they worked rather independently and did not work as intended.
But the trial run failed, forcing the city corporations and traffic police to ditch the new signal system and return to manual traffic management.
"The system was initiated based on a flawed plan, as traffic volume and speed were not considered, " said a city corporation official. The city corporation later introduced remote controls to use the signal lights, but the experiment did not last even a month.
