Commuters\\\' sufferings unlikely to ease soon

Sufferings of commuters using the roads in and around the Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover construction area are unlikely to ease in the next couple of years in absence of a traffic management plan and funds to manage the huge traffic during the construction period.
Official records say the construction will be completed within two years, but the experts' observation is that it will continue for at least the next five years.
A traffic management plan and funds were necessary for dispersing the heavy traffic passing through the city's busy roads at Moghbazar, Mouchak, Malibagh, Shantinagar, Bangla Motor, etc during the construction period, the experts added.
They said the plan would have to recommend alternative roads for commuters or the building of temporary roads during the construction phase in order to manage the large traffic.
Sources said the companies, which had been awarded the Tk 7.73 billion job, did not have any traffic management plan. They also did not keep any funds to reduce the sufferings of the commuters as such a provision "was not in the tender document".
They said despite the bitter experience during the Jatrabari flyover's construction, the plan and the funds were not given due attention by the implementing agency.
The Moghbazar-Mouchak-Malibagh-Shantinagar corridor, through which the 8.25-kilometre (km) flyover is being constructed, is linked to the busy commercial, residential and industrial areas of Motijheel, Tejgaon, Gulshan and Dhanmondi.
The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) is implementing the flyover starting from five different corners -- Moghbazar-Satrasta, Songargaon Road, Moghbazar-Bangla Motor, Moghbazar-Mouchak and Shantinagar occupying almost 80 per cent of the existing roads.
Toma Constructions Co, a local construction firm, and Simplex-Navana and MCCC-4 ACL-ODC were awarded the work last year.
Officials said the LGED was trying to free a road soon after major piers of the flyover on a particular side were completed. It would then be possible for them to propose alternative roads, the area being very congested, they added.
Project director (PD) Nazmul Alam said they have to adopt a compromising solution in absence of the scope for acquiring land to construct the alternative roads. LGED in collaboration with the traffic police was trying to ease the traffic congestion in and around the area, he said.
 "We held meetings with the traffic department including joint commissioners to find the best possible solution to manage the heavy traffic," the PD told the FE over phone.
Although the PD hopes that the construction of the flyover will be completed in two years, sources said the construction firms were yet to get the complete revised design of the structure.
Besides, the implementing agency faced hardship in shifting the utility services lying across the areas.
Toma Construction Company Ltd Managing Director M Ataur Rahman Bhuiyan said in absence of alternative roads and unplanned installation of utility services, it would not be possible for them to carry out the traffic management plan.
The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) is revising the entire flyover design to accommodate the level of grade roads in keeping with the detailed design done in 2005. The BUET experts find it hard to remove problems at the Mouchak crossing due to unplanned construction of buildings and foot over-bridges.
The LGED is also under pressure to provide a two-lane passage for the bus rapid transit (BRT) line-3 on the flyover side coming from Satrasta to Baily Road through Moghbazar intersection.
BUET transportation expert Professor Shamsul Hoque said most of the infrastructure development projects had to face adversities in absence of a proper policy to set up utility services and undertake development work in the areas concerned.
 "In most cases, what we receive in the design at the time of field-level work does not go with the reality," he said.