Dhaka, Feb. 23 -- The Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) has set a target to train 100,000 professional drivers for both light and heavy transport in next five years.

Official sources said the BRTA, which initiated the basic driving training programme in 1975, has so far trained 95,610 people, including 6,066 women.

But, officials said the BRTA's capacity to train professional drivers have gradually increased by setting up four training institutes in Tejgaon, Gazipur, Tongi and Jhenaidah and 23 centres in different parts of the country in the last couples of years.

"On average, 300 drivers are trained in a year now," said Mohammad Moshiuzzaman, manager of Gazipur training institute.

He also said some 43 active training cars,...