Challenges and Opportunities
An efficient transportation system is essential to facilitate economic growth in Bangladesh . The country’s economy needs to grow at a sustained 7 percent per year to achieve the first goal of the MDGs: that of halving the proportion of people living under a dollar a day by 2015. To achieve this growth, the transport sector will need to reduce transport operation costs and allocate resources among different modes of transport in a more balanced manner.
Roads. Roads carry over 80 percent of national passenger traffic, providing the backbone of the transport sector in this country of 150 million people.
Railways. Bangladesh Railways, primarily a passenger railway, handles approximately 7 percent of the national passenger and freight traffic. It carries its maximum number of passengers between Chittagong and Dhaka, the nation’s most important transport corridor.
Inland Waterways. With some 700 rivers and tributaries crisscrossing the country, Bangladesh has one of the largest inland waterway networks in the world. Inland ports handle about 40 percent of the nation’s foreign trade. The network, which shrinks during the dry season, connects almost all the country’s major cities, towns, and commercial centers. Moreover, being cheap, safe, and environment friendly, inland water transportation is often the only mode that serves the poor, proving especially useful during periods of widespread flooding.
Challenges
- Improvements in the ports, railways and inland container depots in an integrated manner are important so that the Dhaka-Chittagong corridor (the main trade route in Bangladesh) can effectively handle exports and imports. Indicative container handling charges suggest that Chittagong Port (USD200/TEU including unofficial and ancillary costs) is more expensive than other ports in the region.
- To meet the demand of passenger and freight transport, increase in the operational efficiency and safety of Inland Water Transport (IWT) is necessary. IWT currently carries more passengers (8% of total passenger-kms) and freight (16% of total tons-kms) than the railways.
- Development of major infrastructure such as the Padma Bridge is important to improve the connectivity and land use of the country. The Eastern Bypass would be a significant investment, comprising transport, flood control, and urban development of Dhaka, which is growing at more than 6 percent per year. The Padma Bridge would connect the currently isolated southwest and the eastern zones of the country.
- Bangladesh Traffic: Although the road network has been substantially expanded and improved, lack of adequate resource allocation for maintenance threatens its sustainability. Secondly, statistics reveal that the fatality rate is more than 100 deaths per 10,000 registered motor vehicles each year. This is a major area of concern and needs to be addressed. Click here for more information about road safety in Bangladesh.
Key Government Strategies
The Government of Bangladesh (GOB) is currently working on the second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), covering the period from FY09-11, which states that 'an efficient transportation network with adequate coverage synchronized with sustained service delivery is an essential input for development of the economy.' The GOB is also in the process of approving the Integrated Multi Modal Transport Policy (IMMTP) which aims to build a secure, dependable and uninterrupted transport network, addressing problems related to road, rail, inland water transport, including access to ports and airports. The IMMTP will help GOB in achieving a more rational and balanced investment across the different transport modes.
In 2004, the GOB approved a National Land Transport Policy to improve the policy and institutional environment for roads and railways in the country. In 2000, a National Shipping Policy was approved to introduce reform and private sector participation in ports and inland waterways. In 2003, a draft Railway Corporate Authority Act was developed to corporatize Bangladesh Railways.
What the World Bank is Doing:
Transport Policy Note of the World Bank for Bangladesh (updated 2009)
During the 1990s the World Bank’s lending for transport to Bangladesh was the largest sector investment operation in the country. Since 1990, the Bank has approved six transport projects totaling USD 1.08 billion. Some recent projects include:
• The Emergency 2007 Flood Restoration and Recovery Assistance Program: The 2007 Floods directly affected over 13 million people in 47 districts of Bangladesh, caused more than 1000 deaths, affected over 2 million acres of agricultural land, and damaged infrastructure, social and educational facilities and private assets. The World Bank is supporting a two part flood assistance strategy, budget support and restoration of infrastructure and livelihoods to help the country cope. Out of the USD 70 million for the Emergency 2007 Flood Restoration and Recovery Assistance Program, which is designed to ensure speedy recovery and reconstruction through additional financing to three existing Bank projects, USD 20 million will be used for infrastructure rehabilitation through the on going Rural Transport Improvement Project. This will be used to rehabilitate the secondary and rural road network in flood affected areas, including rehabilitation of Upazila roads, culverts and bridges.
• The Rural Transport Improvement Project (2003-2009, extended till 2011 and the credit amount is US$ 190 million) aims to provide rural communities with improved access to social services and economic opportunities, and to enhance the capacity of relevant government institutions to better manage rural transport infrastructure in 21 districts of the country. RTIP is from The
• The Bangladesh Railway Reform Programmatic Development Policy Credit was the first major Bank operation in the country’s railway sector. The objective is to improve the governance structure within which Bangladesh Railway operates addressing both governance relationship between the Government and Bangladesh Railway on the one hand, and corporate governance and management structure within the railways organization on the other. This project is one of the flagship projects planned to be developed with the main CAS partners, ADB and JBIC, as part of a multi year, multi donor support program.
• The Clean Air and Sustainable Environment Project (CASE) was approved by the Bank in CY 2009. This project is designed to address the issue of urban air pollution by undertaking demonstration interventions and providing technical assistance for capacity building and reform in key polluting sub-sectors. The transport component will support capacity building through technical assistance and demonstration initiatives in urban transport in Dhaka that will focus on reducing conflict between motorized and non-motorized transport (NMT) and congestion, as well as providing safe and better mobility for those who walk and use public transport, particularly, working women. It will also help strengthen the institutional, policy, and regulatory framework for public transport, and help mainstream environmental considerations into urban transport related decision making.
In 2007 the Bank prepared an Inland Water Transport (IW), IWT Strategy in Bangladesh to provide an overview and assessment of Inland Water Transport in Bangladesh and to help the Government to define a strategy agreed with the stakeholders to bolster the sector’s contribution to shared growth and poverty reduction.
Following the preparation of the Strategy Note a workshop was organized jointly by Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and the World Bank. Currently, a proposed project to be financed by the Bank is under preparation that would address dredging of inland waterways, country boat sector, energy efficiency and safety aspects of the Inaland Water Transport in Bangladesh.
Considering the Governance and Corruption aspects in the highway sector, the World Bank has recently decided (July 2009) to discontinue to prepare the previously proposed Road Sector Reform Project. However, the Bank is continuing dialogue with the Govt. on various issues related to institutional strengthening of the Roads and Highways Department.
Another proposed project, the Export Infrastructure Development Project, will help enhance the country’s trade competitiveness by assisting the rail sector through constructing a modern rail based Inland Container Depot at Dhirasram near Dhaka. It is envisaged that the project will be implemented on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) basis.
Construction of Padma Bridge is an important development agenda for the Government of Bangladesh (GOB). The proposed Bridge will be 6.8 Kilometer long, 25-meter wide with four-lane roadway and a railway track, gas pipeline and electricity power transmission line on it. Once this mega project is completed, travel among all the major divisions and cities between the two sides of the river will be easier and faster. According to the feasibility study (financed by JICA), it was projected that the traffic volume at the Padma Bridge will reach 21,300 vehicles per day after opening of the bridge and 41,600 vehicles per day by 2025. Development partners will provide lending support for the project and it is expected that the WB will provide nearly US$ 500 million withADB and JICA each lending US$ 300 million.. In this regard the World Bank has already processed a $3 million Project Preparation Facility (PPF) to start the preparatory works.
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