Insufficient parking spaces in the capital, found in office complexes, shopping malls, and residential areas, have led to cars being parked on the roadside for extended periods. Consequently, this issue has caused congestion on the roads, leading to traffic jams and inconvenience for pedestrians.
Although the Traffic Division officials acknowledge that resolving parking issues in the capital will not be an overnight process, they propose promoting modern management techniques such as multilevel car parking, and they urge the two city corporations to take the lead in this regard.
According to official regulations, the city corporations are responsible for providing shared parking spaces in Dhaka, while Rajuk is accountable for ensuring that constructions comply with parking laws.
Dhaka is home to around 25 million people, with approximately 2.5 million vehicles on its roads. Any modern city requires a minimum of 25% of its roads to ensure smooth traffic management. However, due to the high population density of this megacity, 30-35% of its roads are necessary. Unfortunately, only 7-8% of Dhaka's roads are available for this purpose.
Various service providers including the city corporations, Wasa, Titas and Desco carry out various developmental works on Dhaka's roads. Moreover, hawkers sit on the pavements and sometimes try to sit around the streets. Due to such obstacles, a large part of the roads remains occupied around the year. Taking this into account, approximately 6% of the roads are left for vehicular traffic.
Traffic sergeants say due to the parking crisis, the traffic police often have arguments with the drivers and owners of vehicles. When asked to move the cars parked on the road, on the contrary, drivers and owners demand space for parking.
As the country's transport management is handled by rich and influential people, it is not possible to take proper measures against the offenders in many cases. They waste time when asked for the documents on the streets, which disrupts the work of the police on duty.
Again, the traffic sergeants in the field mentioned the processions, meetings and non-cooperation of the students behind traffic congestion.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Traffic Division (South) Joint Commissioner Mehdi Hasan said: "The city corporations take care of the construction of parking. Information about the parking crisis was presented by the police in various meetings with the authorities concerned.
“Space is already scarce in the capital, hence it is needed to move towards multi-storey parking management. Then it will be possible to park more cars in less space.”
Additional Commissioner Munibur Rahman Chowdhury said they had conducted different area-wise surveys to find out whether there is a parking area and basement parking for the establishments.
“Even after having basement parking, many people build various establishments including shops in the hope of extra profit. Inquiries are made about those matters.”
He stressed the need for following the Building Code to ensure proper parking in high-rise buildings.
“This matter is mentioned at the time of design approval of the buildings. We are monitoring whether the places where commercial establishments, hospitals and schools are located along the main roads have adequate parking facilities and informing those concerned. It is an ongoing process.”
