Police will finally take control of the long forgotten time-controlled automated traffic signals that were introduced in the capital Dhaka to control the unbearable traffic.
As per a directive from the Prime Minister’s Office the remote controls for the lights are to be handed over to the police from the city corporations.
The traffic lights have been modified and remote controls for the 70 intersections have already been imported.
The automated traffic lights were set up under the ‘Dhaka Urban Project’ funded by World Bank in the 2001-02 fiscal.
A total of Tk 250 million was spent on these environment-friendly lights, which were supposed to control traffic as well as reduce pollution in accordance with the Clean Air and Sustainable Environment [CASE] Project.
City Corporation had set up ‘countdown timers’ for the lights but they soon abandoned when they proved to be completely counterproductive.
Immediately after the lights became operational, the entire city saw unprecedented gridlock as motorists failed to adapt to the pre-set timer.
As a result police were forced to abandon the lights and go back to handling traffic manually.
The initiative was supposed to increase mobility in the street by 10 percent but the project failed due to the complications.
However, changes in configurations are being made to make the lights operational again.
The police will control the traffic lights at 62 out of the 70 intersections with the help of remotes.
The configurations of the controller diagram are being changed to so that it is in sync with the traffic lights.
According to Shirajul Alam, the director of CASE, as of Saturday (Sept 29) automated traffic lights will be made operational in the Bangla Motor and Hotel Intercontinental intersections on an experimental basis.
If this trial run is successful the rest of the lights in the remaining 60 intersections will be operated but the police are not yet prepared for the digitalised traffic system as they do not have enough manpower with relevant knowledge about the matter.