Journal of Shipping and Ocean Engineering 5 (2015) 195-202 doi: 10.17265/2159-5879/2015.04.005 Study on the Development of Water Transport Network for Passengers in the Gulshan-Banani-HatirJheel Lake of the Capital City of Bangladesh Md. Mashiur Rahaman, Mir Tareque Ali and Laboni Afroz Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh Abstract: Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh is one of the most overpopulated city in the world and traffic jam is the most severe and regular affliction in the daily life. Also, the existing vehicles are not sufficient in compared to the population of the city. People have to spend many hours simply sitting in the traffic jam. This lessens the productivity of people and brings sufferings to them. Gulshan-Banani-HatirJheel area is the busiest regions within the city and face severe traffic jam during working hours. These lakes are totally unused. Therefore, there is a possibility to build a waterways network for passengers transport through these lakes. This will reduce the affliction of people via reducing traffic jam. The proposed transportation networks will also preserve the natural environment of the lakes and bring a source of entertainment in the city life. Many developed cities in the world like London, New York, Paris, Venice, Shanghai etc. already have implemented waterways network inside the city and successfully made the best use of cistern side. Key words: Water transport, network, passengers, Gulshan-Banani-HatirJheel Lake. 1. Introduction With Bangladesh’s huge population and current infrastructure, frequent traffic jams waste valuable fuel and time and makes travel very unpleasant and difficult. Furthermore, it makes the existing public transport very inefficient and most importantly adds unbearable and unsafe levels of noise and hazardous air pollution. The noise levels and pollution cause stress in the most people and lead to many life-threatening medical conditions such as cardiovascular diseases and blood pressure related ailments. With continued economic growth and development, Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh is beginning to experience massive traffic congestion. Today, this is causing extreme frustration to the inhabitants of the metropolitan which is the largest and most crowded Corresponding author: Md. Mashiur Rahaman, Ph.D., research fields: computational fluid dynamics (CFD), port and harbor engineering, dredger and dredging technology, ship recycling. Email: mashiurrahaman@name.buet.ac.bd. city of the nation. Many government and public transport agencies drafted policies, undertook projects and implemented programs to solve these problems. For example, the Dhaka Integrated Transport Studies conducted by the Ministry of Planning in 1991-1994 found that not only did the uncoordinated activities of DCC (Dhaka City Corporation), RAJUK (Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha) and BRTA (Bangladesh Road Transport Authority) not yield the desired effects or alleviate the problems but also that there was no single organization responsible for improving the transport and traffic problems of the city. With financial assistance from the World Bank, in 1998, Bangladesh Government created the Dhaka Transport Coordination Board. An urban transport plan was commissioned with the US Consulting Group Louis Berger and BCL (Bangladesh Consultant Ltd). The plan, launched in 2008, laid out a comprehensive transport plan for the Greater Dhaka City and its adjoining areas, such as Tongi, Gazipur, Savar, D DAVID PUBLISHING