[sustran] FW: Further Bans on Fuel Free Transport (FFT) in Dhaka City

SUTP Sustainable Urban Transport Project sutp at sutp.org
Fri Dec 2 09:48:12 JST 2005


  _____  

From: Dr. Mahabubul Bari [mailto:mmbari at blueyonder.co.uk] 
Sent: Jueves, 01 de Diciembre de 2005 05:53 p.m.
Subject: Further Bans on Fuel Free Transport (FFT) in Dhaka City

 

Croydon
December 2, 2005

 

To 

 


Christine Wallich


Country Director

The World Bank

Plot No. E-32 Agargaon

Sher-e-Bangla Nagar

Dhaka-1207, 

Bangladesh

 

 

CC:     Sadek Hossian Khoka, Mayor, Dhaka City Corporation

Minister, Ministry of Communication

Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communication

Secretary, Ministry of Communication

Member Planning Commission, Bangladesh

Executive Director, DTCB

Chief Engineer, Roads & Highways Department

Chief Engineer, Local Government Engineering Department

Chairman, RAJUK

            Walter Hook, Executive Director, ITDP

V. Setty Pendakur, Chairman, Committee for Planning in Developing Countries,
Transportation Research Board

Lew Fulton, UNEP 

David Jarrett, Team Leader, STP

Jamilur Raza Chowdhury, Chairman Steering Committee of STP.

Richard Scurfield, World Bank

Guang Chen, World Bank

            Mitsuyoshi Asada, World Bank

            Jean-Noel Guillossou, World Bank

            Enrique Pantoja, World Bank

            Navaid Qureshi, World Bank

            Representatives of ADB

            Representative of JICA

Representative of DFID

Debra Efroymson, Regional Director, PATH Canada

            Saifuddin Ahmed, Executive Director, WBB Trust

            Lloyd Wright, UCL

Karl Fjellstrom, ITDP

Michael Replogle, Environmental Defence, President, ITDP

Randy Ghent, World Car Free Network

Qumrul Islam Siddique, Former Executive Director, DTCB


            Md. Quium, UNESCAP


            Jahir Uddin Chowdhury, BUET


            Alamgir Mujibul Hoque, Team Leader DUTP in BUET


Jonathan Rouse, Independent Consultant on Sustainable Developments




Subject: Further Bans on Fuel Free Transport (FFT) in Dhaka City

Dear Dr. Wallich,

 

We, the Roads for People movement, would like to thank you for your very
reassuring letter concerning further bans on FFT in Dhaka City. We feel very
encouraged by the Bank's firm commitment to safeguard the ability of the
poor to earn a living, and the rights of women and other vulnerable groups
to have a safe, affordable and convenient transport. 

It is also very reassuring your reaffirming the fundamental principal of
transport policy appraisal on the basis of economic efficiency and social
equity. We hope it will set the minimum standard for all decision makers and
transport professionals in Bangladesh prior to embarking on any potentially
regressive transport policy, such as FFT bans. 

In this connection, we would like to express our gratitude to the Government
of Bangladesh for upholding natural justice and postponing any further bans
on FFT infinitely (the related news is attached herewith). We hope DCC and
DTCB authorities; STP (Strategic Transport Plan) team and its Steering
Committee will show a neutral attitude while selecting potential transport
policies. Unlike the recently completed STP study, any future transport
study should adopt a balance approach to all road users irrespective of FFT
or FDT (Fuel Dependent Transport) and also explore among other sustainable
alternatives, the potential mobility and economic benefits of reintroduction
of FFT in all roads, where they have been banned including all VIP roads. 

 

We therefore fervently request the local transport authorities to avail this
opportunity and try to explore other sustainable alternatives, which have
the potentials not only to ensure balanced developments and maximum
door-to-door mobility of people and goods but also to protect the right of
the poor and the vulnerable road users. A number of such solutions have
already been proposed by the STP Consultants in the Working Paper no. 6,
entitled "Public Transport and Mass Rapid Transit in Dhaka", which was
published in November 2004. Again, the United Nations Environmental
Programme has undertaken initiatives to promote integration of FFT and bus
priority measures in a number of developing countries on the basis of proven
technologies. Moreover, countries in Europe have been actively supporting
sustainable transport by discouraging car use and promoting public
transport, walking and cycling. Dhaka has lot to learn from the ongoing
sustainable transport developments throughout the world and formulate its
own transport policy accordingly.




Finally, we would like to congratulate once again the Government of
Bangladesh for paying due attention to the public opinion and the sufferings
of the masses, and the World Bank for upholding the fundamental principals
of transport policy appraisal and social justice.

 

Sincerely,

 

On behalf of the Roads for People movement

 

 


Mahabubul Bari


Principal Research Engineer

130 Davidson Road

Croydon

Surrey CR0 6DE

UK

Tel: 0044(0) 208 654 4165

Mobile: 0044 (0) 772 361 7535

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20051201/8c0992b2/attachment-0001.html
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Rickshaw Ban Letter to Mr Bari.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 66383 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20051201/8c0992b2/RickshawBanLettertoMrBari-0001.pdf
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Reply_WB_Dec_05.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 25088 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20051201/8c0992b2/Reply_WB_Dec_05-0001.doc
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Rickshaw_Free_Roads_Polls_Factor.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 39424 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20051201/8c0992b2/Rickshaw_Free_Roads_Polls_Factor-0001.doc


More information about the Sustran-discuss mailing list