Bangladesh Government, the Ministry of Communication, with the support from JICA is undertaking the Project on Revision and Updating of Strategic Transport Plan (STP) for Dhaka. The objectives of the study are: 1) revise and update the STP which was approved by the GOB in 2006, and 2) select plans and formulate a roadmap that would consist of high priority projects to solve current urban transport issues. The Household Interview Survey (HIS) is planned as part of the JICA supported STP revision project, and will be implemented by the JICA Study Team engaging a qualified local consultant firm. The HIS consists of four survey items with different purposes to assess:

• Socioeconomic characteristics of the households, location of residence, ownership of housing, payment for electricity, etc.;
• Socioeconomic characteristics of each household member including age, gender, education level, occupation, work or school address, income, etc.;
• The number of vehicles owned and household members who mostly use the vehicles, and
• Characteristics of weekday trips made by each household member including trip origin and destination, trip purpose, travel mode, transfers, as well as departure and arrival times.

The primary objective of HIS is to acquire information on daily travel characteristics of the residents in RAJUK areas except DMA and DCCs (see map aside). More sharply, the purpose of HIS is to provide information suitable for gaining an in-depth understanding of the travel behaviors of households and individuals to inform the revision of the STP. In specific, the objectives are to:

• Obtain basic data in aid of formulating comprehensive urban and transportation plans,
• Creating an essential database of the urban dwellers having diversified choices and behaviors of people towards traffic use, and

Knowing and ensuring that urban and transportation plans are redesigned based on informed knowledge related to travel behaviors of the people and forecasted future traffic demands

Detailed Description of Actual Services Provided by your Company:

The services provided as per the project provision include the following:

• Overall planning, implementation, coordination of the HIS (of 16,000 sample size) with the assistance of JICA and DTCA
• Preparatory phase: translation of data collection tools e.g. four questionnaire forms; staff recruitment, training with field pilot testing, and development of survey manuals, zone code tables, data entry and error checking systems;
• Implementation of field surveys: zone planning, debriefing to field survey teams, and conduction of field surveys by 14 survey teams (those follow random sampling approaches) which includes data collection, field/on-spot error checking and correction, call-back surveys, data gathering and batch processing, data validation, encoding and entry into MS Access software;
• Data processing, analysis and reporting: including systematic data entry, consistency checking, cleaning, tabulation, analysis and information generation for/and report development.

The task involves a high level of HR management systems to manage about 150 field staff involving for more than 16,000 sample surveys as well.

In order to minimize the traffic congestion on the Jamalpur Railway Crossing, to develop a better local and national road network, and to facilitate the growth of the Jamalpur Town, Roads and Highways Department (RHD) on behalf of the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) intends to construct a railway overpass at 145^th km of Joydevpur-Tangail-Jamalpur Highway (N4). The proposed railway overpass will have 2-lane carriageway and the total width will be 9.7m. Then tentative length of the overpass will be 740m. There will be 5.5m of service roads at grade on the both side of the overpass along with footpath and drainage facilities. The bridge type will be Precast Post-tensioned I-Girder deck system for 35m and 30m spans with Cast-in-situ bored concrete piles of 1200mm dia. for all piers and cast-in-situ bored concrete piles of 750mm dia. for abutment.

Jamalpur Road Division entrusted DevConsultants Limited (DevCon) to provide services for the feasibility study and preliminary design of the proposed railway overpass. A Contract Agreement was signed between RHD (Client) and DevCon (Consultant) on May 31, 2015 and DevCon commenced the service from June 7, 2015.

DevCon with a team of reputed consultants was engaged for performing the feasibility study and preliminary design of the railway overpass. In detail, the Consultant’s responsibilities include:

• Preliminary design of the 740m long railway overpass that includes sub-soil investigation, alignment preparation, geometric design, preliminary design of superstructure, substructure, and foundation. The overpass design is governed by AASHTO LRFD Spec. (4th edn, 2007).
• Preliminary design of the service roads and approach roads which includes alignment preparation, geometric design (following RHD Geometric Design Guideline), structural design of pavement, and footpath and drainage facilities.
• Study on required land acquisition and resettlement issues and preparation of preliminary Land Acquisition Plan (LAP) and Resettlement Action Plan (RAP).  Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) and facilitate obtaining environmental site clearance from the Department of Environment (DOE). The IEE includes effect of the railway overpass on transport, physical environment, biological environment, ecology, chemical contamination, socio-economic structure etc. Preliminary cost estimation of the project which shows sufficiently detail breakup of the construction cost.
• A detailed Economic Evaluation of the project to determine Economic Internal Rate of Return (EIRR), Financial Internal Rate of Return (FIRR), Net Present Value (NPV) and Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) of the project and justify the viability for the project.

The key activities performed under the preliminary environmental & social studies are as follows:

• Review of alignment;
• Site reconnaissance and field visit;
• Review of all available documents which is procured from secondary sources;
• Consultation with different level stakeholders to share about the proposed alignment and seek opinion on these;
• Socioeconomic condition and livelihood patter along the project alignment;
• Environmental setting along with project alignment;
• Preparation of screening checklist using important environment and social components;
• Identification of impacts and probable mitigation measures;

Screening findings & recommendations

As per the scope of services for the project, the following activities were performed:

• Collection, review and necessary analysis of hydro-morphological data of the river Dhaleshwari,
• Collection of data on river erosion due to ship propulsion,
• Erosion and scour depth analysis,
• Collection and production of Satellite Images of different years for necessary analyses,
• River Morphological Study,
• Checking and review of design the shore protection structures,
• Perform design modification for shore protection and jetty structures, as appropriate to the field,

Suggestion and recommendation on different issues and production of Reports and Drawings.

The project is intended to construction of 20km Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route from a terminal near Gazipur Railway Station to a terminal at the Airport Rail Station. DTCA and the Special Organization (SPO) to be established to regulate and efficiently manage BRT operations in the corridor using private sector operators. The activities include restructuring the Tongi – Gazipur Pourashava Areas’ main urban transport corridor by constructing:

• 1 Segregated lane per direction from 0km (Gazipur Terminal) to 12.50km; 2 Segregated lanes per direction from 12.50km to 20km (Airport Rail Terminal); a 4.5km elevated section in Tongi from 12.5 km to 17 km; 7 nos. additional flyovers at main junctions; BRT lanes with reinforced concrete pavement; 31 nos. of closed stations with 3 access at grade and 28 underpass (among which 8 nos. are with elevator); 1 terminal and 1 depot near Gazipur Railway Station.
• Two mixed traffic lanes and one NMT lane per direction and sidewalks along either side of BRT
• High capacity drainage system along the restructured corridor

155 nos. of feeder access roads improvement in favor of NMT for a distance of 100 meters from the corridor

Detailed Description of Actual Services Provided by Your Staff.

• Traffic Surveys and Transport Demand Modelling
• Financial Modelling and Economic Analysis
• BRT Operations Plan and Service Development
• BRT Business Model
• Negotiations with existing operators
• Fare System
• ITS Systems for BRT Operations
• ITS Systems for Traffic Signals and Traffic Management Centre
• Vehicle Fleet
• Preparation for BRT Service Start up

PPP scheme for the Intermodal Airport Terminal

The project- upgrading of the Dhaka Bypass (N105) into 4 lanes, is originally a project of the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) of the Bangladesh Government to be implemented through PPP method supported by PPP Authority (PMO). RHD is responsible for the construction and maintenance of the country’s major road network. The 48 km long Dhaka Bypass will eventually be a part of the SASEC and Asian Highway Route 41 corridor and will have a considerable impact in the socio-economic flourishment of the country with a forecasted 15000-20000 AADT and more than 65% commercial vehicles (Trucks). The project road has the following features:

• 4-lane access controlled highway
• 4 nos. exit/ entry points
• 4 nos. toll plazas
• 2 nos. flyovers/ rail overpasses

For the bidding process for selection of the PPP developer, the client assigned DevCon for the preparation of the technical documents of the project proposal particularly for Traffic Survey, preparation of Traffic Management Plan and Traffic Modelling/ Forecasting works.

Detailed Description of Actual Services Provided by Your Staff.

Services provided by DevCon staffs engaged in the project by phases of the assignment are as follows:

Traffic Survey

• Review and design of traffic surveys, and submit guidelines in the form of a Survey Design Report,
• Top supervision of Classified Traffic Count study at 23 locations for 24 hours,
• Top supervision of O-D Survey at 23 locations for 24 hours,
• Carry out Travel Time Survey along 17 alternative routes for 16 hours,
• Carry out Willingness to pay (WTP) survey for Bus, Truck, Car at major terminals, markets and roadside;

Traffic Modeling/ Forecast

• Identify and fix up Zoning of Traffic Analysis (TAZ) in consideration of the project road features,
• Collation of survey data, error-checking and comment on necessary corrective measures,
• Four step transport modeling (trip generation, trip distribution, mode choice, network assignment) to forecast future traffic flow for the project road on segments of the Bypass in 25 years,
• Macro travel demand modeling using CUBE Voyager (by Citilabs USA);

Traffic Management Plan

• Preparation of Overview & Approach to the plan as stated in RFP,
• Identifying and proposing approach to traffic management during construction, maintenance and emergency works in line with traffic guidelines of Bangladesh and AASHTO,
• Proposing approach to introduce Intelligent Transport System (ITS) for traffic management purpose,

Preparation of traffic detour/ routing plan in 2D (dynamic) using CUBE Dynasim (by Citilabs USA);.

In developing countries, TIA process is compulsory for large projects and above a certain size for example: all projects occupying 300 parking units or larger than 2000 sq. meters of gross floor area or projects that will generate more than 100 new traffics in the peak hour. Hazi Salauddin Green City Commercial Complex is located in Kanchpur at Sonargaon Upazila in Narayanganj District, by the Dhaka-Sylhet National Highway (N2) and only 500m apart from the major intersection at Kanchpur. This is a mixed-use project. The project comprises 15 nos. of 10 storied residential buildings which accommodate 1,188 parking units and total parking lot floor area of 36, 673.42 sq. meter. There is also a 20 storied commercial building which will generate 850 new vehicular trips per day. So a Transport Impact Assessment (TIA) for the project is compulsory for the Hazi Salauddin Green City Commercial Complex,

It is done with the objectives as the following:

• To estimate the generated traffic in 2020 from the project,
• To evaluate impact of the project on the adjacent road network,

To provide some recommendations for the mitigation measures.

The specific activities performed under the assignment are as follows:

• Study and understanding of the land use pattern of the project and surrounding areas,
• Review of the compatibility of the project with the existing and proposed land use,
• Review of internal traffic circulation (within project compound) and the entry & exist points,
• Traffic forecast from the 24hr Classified Traffic Volume with the most pragmatic growth factors,
• Traffic Impact Assessment considering 2 scenarios with reference to Level of Service (LOS) of the adjacent highway (N2),
• Recommending mitigation measures to minimize impact of the generated traffic.

Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) of the Government of Bangladesh (the Client) has initiated Rural Connectivity Improvement Project (RCIP) which aims at improving about 2700 km of rural roads connecting the rural population to agriculture value chain development zones. Investments will be made to (i) upgrade rural roads to all-weather standards in 34 districts located in five divisions, (ii) improve the capacity of the rural infrastructure agency to address institutional constraints relating to rural road development, and iii) finance enhancements to the country’s rural road master plan to enable the selection of priority rural roads for improvement using a geographic information system covering the entire country.