Railway minister: Transportation system development required for progress

Minister of Railways Mazibul Hoque on Thursday said the development of the transportation system was a key requirement to ensuring progress. “Progress is in the nature of human beings and proper development of the transportation system is one of the first requirements to ensure progress,” he said at a seminar titled “Sustainable Transportation Development: Towards Developing Nation” held at the Institute of Engineers Bangladesh (IEB). He added that railways in Bangladesh had been ignored for a long time, though they had recently undergone significant development under the tenure of the ruling Awami League government. “A bullet train will be set up to connect Chittagong to the capital, reducing the commute time to just two hours,” the minister said. He also mentioned that the Padma Railway Bridge, Dhaka- Narayanganj double railway line, and Bangabandu Railway Bridge would be set up in conjunction with the Bangabandhu Bridge on the Jamuna River. The Bangabandhu Bridge is being built with Japanese funding. Meanwhile, the Karanafuli Railway Bridge and road will be built with Korean funding, he added. In his keynote presentation at the seminar, Engineer Dr Md Mizanur Rahman cited the transportation system of Bangkok as an example of a sustainable transportation system. He stressed the importance of a multi-modal transport system to ensure ease of travel for commuters. According to Dr Mizanur, the four pillars of sustainable transportation are land use and transport integration; fair, efficient and stable funding arrangements; assurance for strategic infrastructure investments; and attention to neighborhood design. Sustainable transportation development would help attract new businesses, generate sales, encourage local circulation of currency, and stimulate retail trade among other benefits, he said. He added that budget for railways had always been lower than that for roads, despite transport on railways causing only 2% of carbon dioxide emissions while roadways caused 72%. Dr Mizanur also pointed out that a problem with the Padma Railway Link Bridge was that it was only a single line. “The Hardinge Railway Bridge is a double line even though it was developed almost a hundred years ago.  We need farsightedness for sustainable transportation,” he said. IEB Civil Engineering Division Chairman Md Habibur Rahman chaired the seminar, while IEB President Md Abdus Sabur, Bangladesh Railway Director General Md Amzad Hossain, and Engineer Md Monzurul Morshed were also present.