Dhaka-Ctg Highway
Repair work won’t complete before Eid
Abul claims 90pc repair work of highways done
Passengers bound for home will have to suffer for the battered condition of the Dhaka-Chittagong highway as the repair work at some damaged parts will remain incomplete before the Eid-ul-Fitr.
However, visiting the highway yesterday Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain claimed 90 percent repair works of the country’s worn out highways has already been completed.
Though a patchy repair work was going on at Gouripur and Madhaya to keep the highway passable during the heavy rush of traffic on Eid holidays, the damaged part at Miabazar has been repaired only by laying bricks on the potholes.
A complete repair of nearly one kilometre stretch of the rundown highway at Mianbazar will not be possible before Eid due to time constraint and continuing rain, the minister himself told reporters.
This will leave the passengers to suffer while crossing the road at Mianbazar in Chauddagram.
Locals said the road has been in this condition for around last two years as the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) turned a blind eye.
Shopkeeper Sohrab Hossain said long tailbacks on the highway have become a daily reality due to the bad condition of the road.
The minister once again blamed the failure on lack of adequate fund saying the RHD could not carry out the periodic maintenance of roads for want of money.
Local lawmaker of the ruling party Abdul Matin Khosru informed the minister at the circuit house about the dilapidated condition of the Comilla-Brahmanbaria highway and demanded a commuter train on Dhaka-Comilla route.
Matin became angry with the RHD officials present at the circuit house meeting and blamed the poor state of the highway on their negligence.
It takes around six hours to travel from Comilla to Dhaka due to severe gridlock on the highway, while it should take only one and a half hours, he added.
On his way back to the capital, the minister inaugurated a regular BRTC bus service on Dhaka-Chittagong highway with 10 newly imported buses at Moinamoti Cantonment gate.
He said an underpass would be built for vehicles near the cantonment to ease traffic.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
