The country's planners appear to be over-enthusiastic about undertaking mega infrastructure projects but without first setting national priorities. Just think of a week when the Dhaka-Chittagong corridor goes out of operation for some compelling reasons. Hell will break loose. Three vital bridges -the Kanchpur Bridge, the Meghna Bridge and the Gumti Bridge-virtually hold the key to operation of the country's major Chittagong Port which now handles nearly 97 per cent of the country's exports and imports.
The total annual merchandise Chittagong port handles is over 65 million tonnes, growing on an average at 9.2 per cent per annum. Also the trend towards containerisation persists and container traffic is growing on an average at 11.2 per cent per annum. This trend is anticipated to continue or even accelerate in the foreseeable future, which indicates in 2020 the country's total annual seaborne trade will be in the region of 70 to 80 million tonnes.
It's true that the country's seemingly over-vigilant communications minister is equally aware of the pressing need for three more alternative bridges -one at Kanchpur over the Shitalakhya, the other over the Meghna and another over the Gumti. After a brief euphoria over the minister's firm assurance, no more news is there on these bridges -when they will be built or what the pace of progress is.
Millions of TV viewers had once seen the communications minister walking on the Kanchpur Bridge and telling newsmen that the bridge was in a critical state. Similar is the condition of the Meghna and the Gumti Bridges. He assured that steps would speedily be taken to build the three alternative bridges to ease pressure on the existing ones. Even the Armed Forces Engineering Corps did a splendid job in repairing the Gumti Bridge.
After an intensive study, Japanese experts had recommended construction of a second bridge over the Meghna, the Gumti and Shitalakhya (Kanchpur) beside the existing bridges over the rivers.
Experts of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have found upstream and downstream parts of the existing bridges over the Meghna and the Gumti and the one at Kanchpur suitable for the second bridges as it would help the government avoid the hassles of land acquisition.
The JICA feasibility study, submitted to the Roads and Highways Department (RHD), proposed the second Meghna bridge to be constructed upstream of the existing bridge, while the second Gumti and the second Kanchpur bridges downstream of the existing two bridges.
The sites had been chosen not only to avoid land acquisition, but also to have links between both the old and new bridges. No matter on which side, there will hardly any need for land acquisition, except for some resettlement of trade centres and businesses.
The existing three bridges are gradually becoming unfit for heavy vehicular movement due to their excessive uses and lack of regular maintenance. Expansion of the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway to a four-lane one will also make the two-lane Meghna and the Gumti Bridges unfit for vehicular movement.
All the three new bridges need to be four-lane ones. And after completion, the Kanchpur Bridge should be turned into eight-lane, because presently it has four lanes. After the Meghna and the Gumti Bridges' completion, these should be six-lane ones each, as both have two lanes now.
The need for alternative bridges across the Meghna and the Gumti has been felt since the existing two-lane bridges would not match the four-lane highway. The Dhaka-Chittagong Highway is now being upgraded to four lanes. Although the Kanchpur (Shitalakhya) bridge was constructed with four lanes in the 70s, the need for another four lanes is felt with increasingly heavy traffic volume on the Dhaka-Chittagong Corridor and other highways and roads in the days ahead.
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