Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA)

Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) is a regulatory body under the Road Division of the Ministry of Communication of the Government of Bangladesh. It is responsible for planning and regulatory control of the road transports in the country. It is mandated to discharge among others the following main functions:

(a)    Formulation of the policy, rules and regulations for the control of motorized transports and traffic;

(b)   registration and transfer of ownership of motor vehicles;

(c)    testing of driving competence and issuance of motor driving licenses;

(d)   inspection and testing of roadworthiness and issuance of fitness certificates to motor vehicles;

(e)    design of route network and issuance of route permits for the operation of public passenger and goods carrying vehicles;

(f)    inspection of vehicles involved in road accidents to determine the causes of accident and maintaining of road traffic accidents related data;

(g)    design and implementation of the programs for the improvement of road safety;

(h)   registration of driver training schools and issuance of driving instructor’s licenses;

(i)     collection of taxes and fees on account of motor vehicles; and

(j)     such other associated functions.

02. It is important to mention here that the road transport sector has a vital role in the economic development of the country. It carries more than 80% of the passenger and freight traffic and contributes nearly 7.45% to the GDP of the country. Considering its contribution, in order to ensure the planned growth, effective administration, control and management of this important mode of transport, BRTA was created in July 1987.

For the purposes of efficient discharge of its functions and to deliver better services to its clients BRTA is required to:

(a)    update the aged old motor vehicles Act, rules and regulations;

(b)   establish on line processing of vehicle registration, driving licenses, permits, collection of taxes and fees on account of  motor vehicles, etc.;

(c)    establish modern procedures for training and testing of drivers and for vehicles certification;

(d)   introduction of automation in driving testing procedure and test results;

(e)    rehabilitation, operation and maintenance of 05 (five) existing motor vehicle inspection centers;

(f)    tracking of vehicles movement for monitoring safety and security;

(g)    conduct road safety awareness programs through publicity campaigns, holding of seminars, workshops, refresher training for the stake holders and drivers training, etc;   

(h)    ensure transparency, accountability and good governance at all level of its activities;

So far some of the BRTA initiatives are-

(a)    on-line system for collection of taxes and fees on account of motor vehicles, drivers etc;

(b)   production of micro-chip based high security Smart Card driving license;

(c)    introduction of Retro Reflective vehicle registration number plate with RFID Tag and micro-chip based vehicle ownership card;

(d)   online BRTA-Information System (BRTA-IS) with customized software for vehicle registration database, divers information database.

03. The road transport administration and regulation is considered a highly complex and specialized subject. Many countries of the world have specialized organization to carryout out the functions as assigned to BRTA. So for efficient discharge of the functions assigned to it, the BRTA is required to be manned and managed by qualified and trained professionals. However, its present strength and capacity is far below the required standard. After the establishment of BRTA about 25 years have elapsed. It is high time that intensive studies are carried out into the requirements of BRTA and a pilot project is to be taken immediately to build its capacity as a specialized organization.  

04. In order to strengthen BRTA as specialized organization, improve its customer services and to ensure good governance at all level initially the following tasks/issues may be taken for intensive study to ensure road safety in Bangladesh:

(a)   rationalization of BRTA organization to address new issues in road transport sector:

To meet the present and future demands of the ever expanding road transports sector BRTA is looking forward to incorporate to its present organizational setup a Planning, Research and Development wing, an ICT wing and to undertake programs for its Human Resources Development (HRD).

(b)   transparency in customer services in all offices of BRTA:

In order to ensure transparency in customer services and identify the entry of unauthorized persons from the video footage, BRTA intends to install CCTV System in all the field offices of BRTA.

(c)    Prevention of fake motor driving license:

According to BRTA, it has issued 1.3 million driving licenses so far as against about 1.9 million vehicles. Therefore, there is a deficiency of about 0.6 million drivers in the country, if driver to vehicle ratio is considered as one which is technically not feasible. If the ratio is considered as 1:1.5 then there is a deficiency of about 0.9 million, say 1.0 million, drivers in the country. Fortunately / unfortunately none of the vehicles are seating idle for shortage of drivers. Therefore, it can be assumed that there are about 1.0 million drivers outside the records of the BRTA, in other words about 1.0 million unlicensed drivers who drives vehicle on regular basis. In recent times a number of fatal accidents have taken place in the roads and highways of Bangladesh. The media and the civil society hold unlicensed drivers responsible for these fatal accidents. The outcry is so strong that the media and the civil society want to crush many heads in protest. At the same time they want to throw the unlicensed drivers out of the profession.

BRTA engaged an international/national vendor for manufacture and supply of chip-based driving license on BOT basis to prevent fake motor driving license and identify genuine driving license instantly. BRTA intends to have in place automation of driving competency tests through modern test procedures.

(d)   improvement of customer service in vehicle registration, motor driver licensing, issuing route permits etc:

BRTA is looking forward to establish Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centers with logistics at important district headquarters e.g. Dhaka district area, Gazipur, Naryangonj, Manikgonj, Tangail, Mymensingh, Faridpur, Gopalgonj, Madaripur, Sylhet, Moulovibazar, Chittagong, Cox’s bazar, Comilla, Feni, Noakhali, Lakshmipur, Jessore, Jhinaidaha, Satkhira, Barisal, Bhola, Bogra, Pabna, Rangpur, Dinajpur at the first stage.

(e)    Framing of Demand-responsive legislation on Road Traffic:

The Motor Vehicle Ordinance (MVO) was promulgated in 1983 by updating the Motor Vehicle Act of 1939. Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) is the regulating body for Motor Vehicles and Drivers. BRTA discharges its regulatory functions based on the Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1983 and rules and regulations formed there under. BRTA is now facing difficulty in discharging its duties due to the outdated MVO of 1983. Revision of the MVO is essential to facilitate the current growth of the transport sector. Moreover, revision of the 1983 ordinance is of critical importance for the introduction of measures to modernize vehicular safety and environmental standards and to overhaul public transport licensing provisions. To cover all types of road users under the same law the Act could be renamed as Road Transport and Traffic Act (RTTA) and necessary modification will be done accordingly. To address this issue, Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) has taken initiatives to engage a national consultant under Clean Air and Sustainable Environment (CASE) project financed by World Bank. The draft final of this Act is in the web site of BRTA and DTCA (www.dtca.gov.bd) to collect stakeholders comment. BRTA need to be strengthened to manage the new issues which are going to be incorporated in the proposed new law.

(f)     Rehabilitation, Operation and Maintenance of 05 (five) Vehicle Inspection Centers (VIC) in different Districts. 

Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) set-up 05 (five) semi-automatic Vehicle Inspection Centers (VICs) in 1999 in 4 (four) metropolitan cities- two in Dhaka and one in Chittagong, Khulna & Rajshahi each. Establishment of VICs was a component project of Road Overly and Improvement project (ROIP) under Loan No 1287-BAN (SF) of Asian Development Bank (ADB). Completing physical works and installation of equipment, BRTA went to make the five Vehicle Inspection Centers operational. BRTA tried hard to make these operational but never been succeeded due to scarcity of the spare parts that are needed to maintain the Vehicle Inspection Centers. On the other hand Bangladesh Road Transport Authority had difficulty to manage five Vehicle Inspection Centers, for fund constraints and lack of trained manpower. This led Government to change its strategy, for achieving outcome of the Project.

Five Vehicle Inspection Centers (VICs) were constructed by the government for technical inspection of vehicles by computerized method. The goal of the VIC is to inspect the vehicles by computerized method instead of visual inspection. Visual inspection system is very old and the results of the vehicle inspections are always faulty and debatable. But computerized method of inspection is more acceptable.

The objective of the project was to help the Government improve transport efficiency and strengthen integrated Vehicle Inspection through balanced, quiet and mechanized developed system of checking.

A project named “Establishing Data Center & Web-Portal System for Digital BRTA” where KOICA will provide, install, commission and operate one full set of automatic vehicle inspection system to one of the VICs in BRTA Mirpur Branch office to  

·         Improve safety measures on the road traffic both cargo and passenger to provide better access to markets, social services and employment opportunities;

·         Secure Government resources for periodic inspection and maintenance of vehicles;

·         Improve road safety and axle-load control.

After successful implementation of this component of the above mentioned project, KOICA may take initiative for rehabilitation, operation and maintenance of other 04 (four) Vehicle Inspection Centers (VIC) in different Districts.