A move has been taken to revise the city transport sector's plan for the second time.
Sources said the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) has already requested the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to carry out the revision of the strategic transport plan (STP).
The DTCA made the request when the ADB mission visited the country last month, they added.
However, previous revision of the 20-year transport plan for greater Dhaka city was made in 2013.
The revised STP outlined by Japanese consultants with support of Japan International Cooperation Agency was approved in 2016.
The first STP recommended three mass rapid transit (MRT) lines and three bus rapid transit (BRT) lines. But the revised strategic transport plan (RSTP) recommended five MRTs and two BRTs.
The RSTP also proposed construction of five more expressways --Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway, Dhaka-Chittagong Expressway, Dhaka-Sylhet Expressway, Dhaka-Mawa Expressway and Dhaka-Mymensingh Expressway and three ring roads -- inner, middle and outer.
Besides, it proposed construction of eight other roads -- Dhaka-Joydevpur, Dhaka-Tongi-Ghorashal, Dhaka-Purbachal-Bhulta, Dhaka-Kanchpur-Meghna Bridge, Dhaka-Signboard-Narayanganj, Dhaka-Jhilmil-Ekuria, Dhaka-Aminbazar-Savar, and Dhaka-Ashulia-DEPZ and at least 21 transport hubs (terminals) and circular waterways surrounding Dhaka.
However, only one MRT and one BRT are now under construction. Though the studies on some other MRTs, expressways and circular roads are going on, none of those projects reached the investment stage.
Officials said the DTCA requested the ADB to make changes in transport and road plans and make those more realistic.
This time railway and waterways would be brought under the plan, said an official preferring not to be named.
Another official, however, said the decision to revise the RSTP was taken to update the traffic data as the data collected during 2013 and 2014 have already become obsolete.
"If we start collecting data now, it will take two years to ready the next STP by 2020," he said.
However, before approval of the RSTP, DTCA itself breached the plan and approved a flyover stretching from Babubazar to Shantinagar under the public-private partnership initiative.
The first STP was formulated in 2005 by a group of national and international experts with support of the World Bank.
Implementation of the STP actually began in 2009 after it was approved by the cabinet. It was planned for the period from 2004 to 2025. The implementation time for RSTP was 2015-2035.
smunima@yahoo.com