Every day during the morning and evening rush hours, office-goers and commuters in Chittagong find that there are not enough buses on the port city streets to carry them to their workplaces and homes.
As they wait for hours to catch a ride, the public buses that are supposed to operate across different routes – instead stay busy carrying workers of CEPZ factories; they do so as bus owners can get a better profit that way.
In order to save overhead expenses, most factories in the Chittagong Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) choose to rent public buses instead of owning any private transport.
“The factory owners at the CEPZ do not feel encouraged to introduce their own transport service as it will increase the overhead costs. Drivers will have to be employed, routine maintenance and parking spaces will also be required for the vehicles,” said a senior official of the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA), seeking anonymity.
To make matters worse, many public transports are kept off the roads as they require maintenance, putting extra strain on the city’s public transport sector. Also, law enforcers often seize or requisition public transports.
CMP Deputy Commissioner (Traffic) Masud-ul-Hasan told the Dhaka Tribune that letters have been sent to the BEPZA on several occasions requesting that factories introduce transport service for their own workers.
The hiring of city buses by CEPZ factories hurts Chittagong’s transport system and increases sufferings of the general commuters, Masud said.
“The factories at the CEPZ require 300 vehicles to carry the workers. However, the factories have only 100 vehicles and the rest are hired on contract from bus operators,” the deputy commissioner added.
According to the traffic department of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, as many as 899 buses and minibuses ply in a total 11 routes. Besides, 109 buses and minibuses ply as EPZ reserve service in the city.
“Some 60 public transports illegally ply to carry workers of Chittagong EPZ and Karnaphuli EPZ, flouting their assigned routes. There is an unholy nexus between a section of dishonest traffic sergeants and the bus operators for the malpractice,” said Belayet Hosain Belal, secretary general of Metropolitan Paribahan Malik Group.
However, such allegations were denied by the CEPZ authorities.
“A large portion of the workers at the CEPZ do not require transport service since they reside within walking distance of their factories,” said CEPZ General Manager Khurshid Alam.
He added that 168 factories in CEPZ currently employs around 200,000 workers.
Asked for a comment, BEPZA General Manager (Public Relations) Nazma Binte Alam said the public transport service providers should increase the number of vehicles that operate in the port city.
Engineer Subhash Barua, vice-president of Forum for Planned Chittagong, offered a different solution.
“To mitigate the sufferings, the factory owners should either arrange transports on their own or construct dormitories for the workers within the factory vicinity,” he suggested.