The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority on Wednesday rejected the Transparency International Bangladesh report on corruption in Bangladesh’s transport sector.

The report, published on Tuesday, revealed that private bus companies in the country pay Tk 1,059.37 crore annually in bribes to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, traffic and highway police, representatives of municipalities and city corporations, political leaders, transport owners, and workers’ organisations.

At a press conference held at BRTA headquarters on Wednesday, the BRTA chairman Nur Mohammad Mazumder said that the TIB report was ‘based on estimation, fabricated and intentional’.

He claimed that the authority had made almost all of its services digitalised and clients were getting hassle-free services.

He also claimed that only uneducated people now go to brokers for getting BRTA services.

‘TIB also didn’t talk with us,’ the chairman said and added that the report was unrealistic.

‘We protest at the report and reject it as it tarnished the government’s image,’ he said.

TIB research, titled ‘Integrity in Private Bus Transport Business,’ was conducted in 51 bus terminals in 32 districts between May 2023 and February 2024 on 701 bus workers, 696 bus passengers, 168 bus owners under 22 bus companies, and 37 officials.

According to the report, out of all 80,521 buses (registered under BRTA until June 2023), 98.4 per cent are under private ownership.

As per the research, annually, 52.9 per cent of buses paid the highest, Tk 900.59 crore, in bribes for getting services like registration and fitness certificates from the BRTA.

Following this, 29 per cent buses paid Tk 87.57 crore to the traffic and highway police for avoiding cases, 13.2 per cent buses paid Tk 33.48 crore to the representatives of municipalities and city corporations for parking on roads, 9.3 per cent buses paid Tk 24.97 crore to the different groups of people, and 5.7 per cent buses paid Tk 12.76 crore to the transport owners and workers’ organisations while leaving the terminals.