Execution of 16 road projects in limbo

Munima Sultana | Published: March 26, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Execution of some 16 projects in road sector has been slow in the current fiscal year due to failure to complete land acquisition and road designs.
Sources said four of these projects were taken up 10 to 15 years ago.
Complication over land acquisition and formulation of projects without feasibility studies caused slow progress of 16 projects in road sector, they added.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges (MoRTB) marked these projects as being slow.
Of these projects, works on Gazipur-Ajmatpur-Itakhola road and PC girder bridge and Amborkhana bypass road construction work have been going on since 2001.
Both the projects are considered vital for improving traffic on the highways.
Officials said, the Gazipur-Ajmatpur-Itakhola road construction is supposed to help traffic flow of northern districts to move towards Dhaka-Sylhet highway.
This project was long held up due to land acquisition-related complication following courts' stay orders.
Of the other projects, Chatmohor-Handial-Hamkumira road development and Badherhat-Khoyerchar road at Nagarbari Ferryghat were undertaken 10 years back and could not be implemented due to failure to finalise alignment.
The remaining projects out of 16 are also facing problems in acquiring lands and finalising the design of the road although development project proposals of those were approved five to six years ago, said Roads and Highways Department (RHD) sources.
"Physical work of many of these projects could not be started even after DPPs were approved in 2009, 2010 and 2011 due to change in road alignments," said an official preferring not to be named.
He said these kinds of problems arise in the case of road sector projects taken under the government fund as hardly any feasibility study and alignment were finalised before approval of the DPP.
However, RHD officials said the projects, which started in 2001 and 2006, are likely to be completed in the current fiscal year and the department has sought necessary funds in this regard.
Other than national highways, most of the road networks in the country are designed based on the recommendations of local influential including members of parliaments.
It is also alleged that the RHD engineers hardly visit spots to carry out feasibility study on a proposed road and prepare DPP in a structured format.
Experts have also found delay in implementing most of the road sector projects and revision of the DPP twice or thrice.
The Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane project, a very important project of the government, has also taken more than 10 years to carry out widening work of 193-kilometre road as its alignment faced many obstructions and changes at different points during its implementation.
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