Japanese consultants out of tune with RAJUK plan

The move to build a flyover from the Dhaka-Mawa road's the Jhilmil project point to Shantinagar by Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) is facing a blow for its not being endorsed by a Japanese consultants' team.
Officials said the consultants working to revise the city's 20-year-long transport plan under the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) refused to include the Rajuk's flyover project in the planning on the ground that it would affect the traffic situation in the city.
Official sources said the team thought that it would obstruct the routes of the mass rapid transit (MRT) line-6 and the bus rapid transit (BRT) line-3, the city's two main traffic remedial components recommended in the STP (strategic transport plan).
"The city has no option but to introduce a mass transit system for its 15 million population; but the Rajuk-proposed flyover project is likely to run into the MRT line-6 and BRT line-3," said an official.
He said the MRT and BRT lines were to benefit more than 100,000 commuters per hour helping them move uninterrupted but the flyover would only benefit a section of transport users.
But Rajuk sources said they already spent some Tk 10 million (1.0 crore) for the consultancy purpose to study how to make the flyover project viable under the public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement.
"It is already included as a potential PPP project in the list of the PPP cell under the Prime Minister's Office. We have also appointed a transaction adviser and signed a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese company in this connection," said an official.
The Rajuk, the city planner-cum-developer, has taken the move to construct the flyover to facilitate smooth traffic between the city and the highway.
The Rajuk studies tried to justify the grounds for constructing the flyover by saying that it would help avoid the traffic congestions in the old part of the city. The studies also argued that after the completion of the Padma Bridge and establishment of the Jhilmil project there would be more traffic through the corridor.
Initially it was planned to construct the flyover from the Dhaka-Mawa highway's Jhilmil point to Golap Shah Mazar at Gulistan but the area under the plan was extended up to Shantinagar to avoid the MRT-6, which is to cross through the city's Paltan crossing at a 13-metre height.
However, sources said with the changed plan, the Rajuk's flyover is likely to cause a problem with the Malibagh-Moghbazar flyover as the ramps of the two flyovers will have only an 80-metre gap at Shantinagar.
Rajuk Chairman GM Jainal Abedin Bhuiyan said they consulted the Japanese team working under the DTCA several times and were trying to find a solution.
"We are trying to find a solution to the problem. We are hopeful," he told the FE.
However, DTCA and BUET (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology) experts are still against construction of the Rajuk flyover. They argued that the chances for building the flyover got limited after construction of the Mayor Hanif flyover and the Buriganga Bridge at Babubazar.
"To avoid the existing Mayor Hanif flyover and Babubazar bridge, the Rajuk has to raise the height of its proposed flyover up to the level of a seven-storied building and will face difficulties while lowering the height again to the ground level," said Syed Shamsul Hoque, Professor of Civil Engineering Department of BUET, who has been involved with the review of the design.
He said the problem arose as the structures were constructed without any long-term vision and in view of other development plans. He blamed the authorities concerned for not following STP guideline while taking plans under different ministries.
Rajuk and DTCA sources said the Rajuk could not give up its flyover project in the political interest. Both the ministers - Housing and Public Works and Road Transport and Bridges - want the Rajuk flyover to be constructed.
Though lobbying is on to include the Rajuk flyover project in the revised STP, they said the Japanese consultants in a recent meeting guided the Rajuk to divert the route of the flyover towards Dhaka Elevated Expressway (DEE) for merger with it. But the PPP experts said it was hard to merge the two PPP projects as it would make things more complicated over sharing profit.
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