To Coordinator/Organiser International Symposium for Sustainable Transport for Developing Countries Co-organisers: Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET) Loughborough University, UK Hiroshima University, Japan British Council, Bangladesh Subject: International Symposium for Sustainable Transport for Developing Countries and STP initiatives for Dhaka City Dear Sir or Madam, On behalf of Roads for People, a movement dedicated to the development of an eco-friendly and sustainable transport system in Dhaka City, I would like to draw your attention to some of the features of your recently concluded (28 - 29 August, 2008 in BUET) symposium. First of all I would like to congratulate the organisers of the symposium for undertaking initiatives for sustainable transport development in developing countries. However, it is a matter of deep concern that in the name of sustainable transport development, the forum was mainly used to promote unsustainable, capital intensive, car-friendly and anti-fuel free transport policy directives, notably the Strategic Transport Plan (STP) for Dhaka City. The STP initiatives cannot be regarded as sustainable transport initiatives under any circumstances because the approach: · Shows total disregard to the majority of trips, i.e. all short trips (76% of the total trips) and fuel free transport (48% of the trips); · Takes a stand against sustainable transport modes by banning fuel free transport and restricting intercity buses and railways, etc.; · Invests the maximum amount of resources (237% more) for the less optimal transport solution; · Promotes car friendly and unsustainable policy directives like change of modal share in favour of cars, promotion of more car parking facilities, etc.; · Promotes auto-friendly, inefficient and environmentally disastrous projects like the Eastern Bypass, elevated expressways and other unnecessary road projects, defying the findings of the STP study itself; · Develops transport alternatives considering only the supply side of the problem under the assumption of unconstrained demand, which would likely promote unsustainable use of scarce resources; · Takes important transport policy decisions solely on the basis of arbitrary reasoning without any valid supporting scientific analysis; · Promotes long distance trips and encourages the need for more travel, which is likely to induce more congestion and pollution; · Provides a disproportionate amount of resources for car-friendly and capital intensive projects and allocates inadequate provisions and funding for sustainable transport systems such as walking, fuel-free vehicles (bicycles and rickshaws), low cost public transit and an integrated waterway system; · Promotes inequality and social injustice. A detailed review of the main features of the STP and ongoing unsustainable transport interventions is attached herewith, which you may find useful. In this connection, it might be appropriate to learn lessons from the dismal failure of Dhaka Urban Transport Project (DUTP) (DUTP 2006, Bari and Efroymson 2006). The approach adopted in the DUTP was very much similar to that of the recommended solutions of STP. Key features of the project include: construction of a number of flyovers, banning of fuel-free transport from main roads, forcing the pedestrians to take elevated crossings, widening of roads at the expense of footpaths, etc. It may be mentioned here that the total travel time disbenefits of the project were at least twenty times more than the tiny savings of travel times. The moral from the dismal failure of DUTP is that in planning for a multimodal transport system, there is no scope to take decisions on the basis of prejudices while defying standard approaches of transport appraisal. Yet a similar unscientific approach is evident both in DUTP and in STP. The main conclusion of the project is that there is no justification for wasting public money in the name of so-called development projects, such as DUTP, which cause colossal damage to the economy (well over Tk 7.78 billion per year), reduce mobility of people and goods, divide neighborhoods and sever service facilities, inflict environmental degradation, destroy the basic fabric of sustainable development, deny vulnerable sections of the society their fundamental rights to accessibility and income, promote social inequality, and exacerbate poverty and hunger. An independent assessor appointed by the World Bank (World Bank 2007) also came down heavily on the justification of the key initiative of the project which attempted to ban fuel-free transport in favour of a tiny minority of car owners, who represent less than 5% of the population. The dual role currently being played by a section of academics related to some higher learning institutions in Bangladesh is a matter of serious concern. These academics seem to be directly involved in formulating unsustainable, capital-intensive and environmentally disastrous policy directives like the banning of fuel-free transport, promotion of more free car parking facilities, and construction of flyovers and elevated expressways. It is difficult to understand how it could be appropriate to, one the one hand, be key members of STP or DUTP, while at the same time being directly involved in lucrative consultancy services for these wasteful and capital-intensive infrastructure projects. Such consultants would seem to assign more time to promoting lucrative infrastructure projects rather than for research and academic activities. Such behaviour not only represents a serious conflict of interest but also acts as a hindrance for the congenial development of academic and research activities, particularly at the postgraduate level. I would like to draw the attention of such malpractices to the University Grant Commission and other relevant authorities and hope that concerned academics will keep them above criticism and uphold the dignity and sanctity of higher learning institutions of Bangladesh. The use of a sustainable transport development forum to promote such unsustainable STP or DUTP policy directives represents both insult and injury to the genuine movement for sustainable transport development. Those of us in that movement strongly deplore such practice and hope that organisers will in future be careful to avoid allowing their forum to promote such misguided transport initiatives. We also hope that the sponsors of the symposium would constitute an enquiry committee comprising an international panel of experts on sustainable transport development to review the activities of the so-called sustainable transport development symposium and undertake requisite corrective measures to avoid such controversies in future and hence to uphold the dignity of the basic philosophy of sustainable transport development, that is, to promote low-cost, eco-friendly, space- and energy-efficient transport that recognizes the rights of the majority rather than prioritizing the elite. Sincerely, Mahabubul Bari International Expert on Transportation Infrastructure Independent Adviser to the Ministry of Infrastructure Republic of Rwanda Kigali Post Box: 4989 Rwanda Mobile: +250 0341 6508
--- On Tue, 9/23/08, Dr Mahabubul Bari <mahabubul.bari@gmail.com> wrote:
From: Dr Mahabubul Bari <mahabubul.bari@gmail.com>
Subject: Fwd: International Symposium for Sustainable Transport for Developing Countries and STP initiatives for Dhaka City
To: marufrbd@yahoo.com, shovan1209@yahoo.com
Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2008, 12:38 PM
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dr. Md. Jobair Bin Alam <jobair@ce.buet.ac.bd>Date: Mon, Sep 22, 2008 at 5:05 PM Subject: Re: International Symposium for Sustainable Transport for Developing Countries and STP initiatives for Dhaka City To: Dr Mahabubul Bari < mahabubul.bari@gmail.com>, afujiw@hiroshima-u.ac.jp, zjy@hiroshima-u.ac.jp, f18333@fukken.co.jp, nartarshiasoo@logan.qld.gov.au, d.akber@cqu.edu.au, salahuddin0000@yahoo.com, iahmed@worldbank.org, rahmat@tscplanning.com, hasib23@gmail.com, m.a.a.mamun@lboro.ac.uk, ashrafulsarkar@yahoo.com, rahman.akmfazlur@yahoo.com, srmilan@gmail.com, dirarc@ari.buet.ac.bd, sabreena.anowar@gmail.com, asifraihan002@yahoo.com, safiq98buet@gmail.com, mizanur@ce.buet.ac.bd, mhadiuzzaman@ce.buet.ac.bd, ashmarbd@yahoo.com, supch2003@yahoo.com, tahera409@yahoo.com, romel157@yahoo.com, kawsar_arefin@yahoo.com, smsohelmahmud@gmail.com, kabirul.ce@mist.edu.bd, shoque@ce.buet.ac.bd, alamsh@rhd.gov.bd, saikatxyz@yahoo.com, sumon_buet22@yahoo.com, saifulkuet92@yahoo.com, marufrbd@yahoo.com, shafiq_urp@yahoo.com, neaz_murshed@ce.buet.ac.bd, mahp_1968@yahoo.comDear Dr. Bari, It is nice to hear from you. You have sent a long mail. I am sorry, now I am too busy to respond to every details of your mail. I would like to just identify only few misunderstandings mentioned in your mail. 1. The Symposium was on 'Sustainable Transport in Developing Countries'. There were two papers on STP; but discussed generically on different issues on sustainable transport. So, there is no need to think that it was arranged to promote STP or the otherway. We, the academicians, are only the pursuer of truth. 2. You mentioned that the forum was mainly to promote unsustainble, capital incentive .... which is totally wrong. I don not know from where you got such message. Please be sure about the content before sending such a public mail. Wishes Dr. Md. Jobair Bin Alam Professor Department of Civil Engineering Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh Phone: 880 2 966 5650 (PABX) FAX: 880 2 861 3026, 880 2 861 3046 To: jobair@ce.buet.ac.bd, afujiw@hiroshima-u.ac.jp, zjy@hiroshima-u.ac.jp, f18333@fukken.co.jp, nartarshiasoo@logan.qld.gov.au, d.akber@cqu.edu.au, salahuddin0000@yahoo.com, iahmed@worldbank.org, rahmat@tscplanning.com, hasib23@gmail.com, m.a.a.mamun@lboro.ac.uk, ashrafulsarkar@yahoo.com, rahman.akmfazlur@yahoo.com, srmilan@gmail.com, dirarc@ari.buet.ac.bd, sabreena.anowar@gmail.com, asifraihan002@yahoo.com, safiq98buet@gmail.com, mizanur@ce.buet.ac.bd, mhadiuzzaman@ce.buet.ac.bd, ashmarbd@yahoo.com, supch2003@yahoo.com, tahera409@yahoo.com, romel157@yahoo.com, kawsar_arefin@yahoo.com, smsohelmahmud@gmail.com, kabirul.ce@mist.edu.bd, shoque@ce.buet.ac.bd, alamsh@rhd.gov.bd, saikatxyz@yahoo.com, sumon_buet22@yahoo.com, saifulkuet92@yahoo.com, marufrbd@yahoo.com, shafiq_urp@yahoo.com, neaz_murshed@ce.buet.ac.bd, mahp_1968@yahoo.comSent: Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:00:55 +0200 Subject: International Symposium for Sustainable Transport for Developing Countries
and STP initiatives for Dhaka City
> Kigali
> 22 September 2008
>
> To
>
> Coordinator/Organiser
>
> International Symposium for Sustainable Transport for Developing Countries
>
> Co-organisers:
>
> Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET)
>
> Loughborough University, UK
>
> Hiroshima University, Japan
>
> British Council, Bangladesh
>
> Subject: *International Symposium for Sustainable Transport for Developing
> Countries and STP initiatives for Dhaka City*
>
> *Dear Sir or Madam,*
>
> On behalf of Roads for People, a movement dedicated to the development of an
> eco-friendly and sustainable transport system in Dhaka City, I would like to
> draw your attention to some of the features of your recently concluded (28 -
> 29 August, 2008 in BUET) symposium.
>
> First of all I would like to congratulate the organisers of the symposium
> for undertaking initiatives for sustainable transport development in
> developing countries. However, it is a matter of deep concern that in the
> name of sustainable transport development, the forum was mainly used to
> promote unsustainable, capital intensive, car-friendly and anti-fuel free
> transport policy directives, notably the Strategic Transport Plan (STP) for
> Dhaka City. The STP initiatives cannot be regarded as sustainable transport
> initiatives under any circumstances because the approach:
>
> · Shows total disregard to the majority of trips, i.e. all short
> trips (76% of the total trips) and fuel free transport (48% of the trips);
>
> · Takes a stand against sustainable transport modes by banning fuel
> free transport and restricting intercity buses and railways, etc.;
>
> · Invests the maximum amount of resources (237% more) for the less
> optimal transport solution;
>
> · Promotes car friendly and unsustainable policy directives like
> change of modal share in favour of cars, promotion of more car parking
> facilities, etc.;
>
> · Promotes auto-friendly, inefficient and environmentally disastrous
> projects like the Eastern Bypass, elevated expressways and other unnecessary
> road projects, defying the findings of the STP study itself;
>
> · Develops transport alternatives considering only the supply side
> of the problem under the assumption of unconstrained demand, which would
> likely promote unsustainable use of scarce resources;
>
> · Takes important transport policy decisions solely on the basis of
> arbitrary reasoning without any valid supporting scientific analysis;
>
> · Promotes long distance trips and encourages the need for more
> travel, which is likely to induce more congestion and pollution;
>
> · Provides a disproportionate amount of resources for car-friendly
> and capital intensive projects and allocates inadequate provisions and
> funding for sustainable transport systems such as walking, fuel-free
> vehicles (bicycles and rickshaws), low cost public transit and an integrated
> waterway system;
>
> · Promotes inequality and social injustice.
>
> A detailed review of the main features of the STP and ongoing unsustainable
> transport interventions is attached herewith, which you may find useful.
>
> In this connection, it might be appropriate to learn lessons from the dismal
> failure of Dhaka Urban Transport Project (DUTP) (DUTP 2006, Bari and
> Efroymson 2006). The approach adopted in the DUTP was very much similar to
> that of the recommended solutions of STP. Key features of the project
> include: construction of a number of flyovers, banning of fuel-free
> transport from main roads, forcing the pedestrians to take elevated
> crossings, widening of roads at the expense of footpaths, etc. It may be
> mentioned here that the total travel time disbenefits of the project were at
> least twenty times more than the tiny savings of travel times. The moral
> from the dismal failure of DUTP is that in planning for a multimodal
> transport system, there is no scope to take decisions on the basis of
> prejudices while defying standard approaches of transport appraisal. Yet a
> similar unscientific approach is evident both in DUTP and in STP.
>
> The main conclusion of the project is that there is no justification for
> wasting public money in the name of so-called development projects, such as
> DUTP, which cause colossal damage to the economy (well over Tk 7.78 billion
> per year), reduce mobility of people and goods, divide neighbourhoods and
> sever service facilities, inflict environmental degradation, destroy the
> basic fabric of sustainable development, deny vulnerable sections of the
> society their fundamental rights to accessibility and income, promote social
> inequality, and exacerbate poverty and hunger. An independent assessor
> appointed by the World Bank (World Bank 2007) also came down heavily on the
> justification of the key initiative of the project which attempted to ban
> fuel-free transport in favour of a tiny minority of car owners, who
> represent less than 5% of the population.
>
> The dual role currently being played by a section of academics related to
> some higher learning institutions in Bangladesh is a matter of serious
> concern. These academics seem to be directly involved in formulating
> unsustainable, capital-intensive and environmentally disastrous policy
> directives like the banning of fuel-free transport, promotion of more free
> car parking facilities, and construction of flyovers and elevated
> expressways. It is difficult to understand how it could be appropriate to,
> one the one hand, be key members of STP or DUTP, while at the same time
> being directly involved in lucrative consultancy services for these wasteful
> and capital-intensive infrastructure projects. Such consultants would seem
> to assign more time to promoting lucrative infrastructure projects rather
> than for research and academic activities. Such behaviour not only
> represents a serious conflict of interest but also acts as a hindrance for
> the congenial development of academic and research activities, particularly
> at the postgraduate level. I would like to draw the attention of such
> malpractices to the University Grant Commission and other relevant
> authorities and hope that concerned academics will keep them above criticism
> and uphold the dignity and sanctity of higher learning institutions of
> Bangladesh.
>
> The use of a sustainable transport development forum to promote such
> unsustainable STP or DUTP policy directives represents both insult and
> injury to the genuine movement for sustainable transport development. Those
> of us in that movement strongly deplore such practice and hope that
> organisers will in future be careful to avoid allowing their forum to
> promote such misguided transport initiatives.
>
> We also hope that the sponsors of the symposium would constitute an enquiry
> committee comprising an international panel of experts on sustainable
> transport development to review the activities of the so-called sustainable
> transport development symposium and undertake requisite corrective measures
> to avoid such controversies in future and hence to uphold the dignity of the
> basic philosophy of sustainable transport development, that is, to promote
> low-cost, eco-friendly, space- and energy-efficient transport that
> recognizes the rights of the majority rather than prioritizing the elite.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> On behalf of the Roads for People movement,
> Mahabubul Bari
>
> International Expert on Transportation Infrastructure
>
> Independent Adviser to the Ministry of Infrastructure
>
> Republic of Rwanda
>
> Kigali
>
> Post Box: 4989
>
> Rwanda
>
> Mobile: +250 0341 6508
------- End of Original Message ------- |
