Severe stone crisis hits Dhaka-Ctg 4-lane work

Severe crisis in supply of stones for the Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane work is yet to be resolved although the last construction period for completing widening of the country's national corridor has already begun.
Official sources said they have still a demand for over 700,000 cubic metres of stones for completing entire 193 km highway work as well as for giving finishing touch during the current construction season.
The construction season for road and highway development starts from October and ends in February depending on rains.
The crisis in supply of stones for the Dhaka Chittagong four-lane construction work has been persisting for the last five months.
The project office said the crisis has ensued as India has imposed a ban on export of black and pakur stones due to a court order.
Sources, however, attributed the crisis to stoppage of import as its import cost has increased because of improving weight checking system near the Meghalaya border.
They said importers are not interested in bringing stones from Meghalaya as cost has been increased for strictly following weight of each vehicle through axle load machine.
Officials said the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges (MoRTB) has taken measures to resolve the crisis and held a meeting with all stakeholders in Sylhet on November 06.
Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary MAN Siddique led the meeting where representatives from the Ministry of Mineral Resources, the district administration, police, Border Guard of Bangladesh and importers were present.
"We have continued our efforts to resolve the crisis situation. We are now hopeful of getting the supply of stones normal within a week or two," said Project Director Ibne Alam Hasan.
He said following the fruitful meeting, the situation has already started improving.
The Dhaka-Chitagong four-lane project has gone through several crises since construction of 192.30 km economic corridor began in 2010.
According to the project office, the four-lane work is now almost at its end as 73 per cent physical work has been completed. But the progress of the project has been witnessed only at three to four per cent since June.
Severe shortage of earth, sand, bitumen, fund etc delayed the project work several times extending project implementation period for four times.
The project is now supposed to be completed by December this year but it is said the entire corridor will be ready by June next.
The officials said the supply from India is likely to improve as the court ban on stone supply has been withdrawn recently.
They said with India remaining the single source of supply of black and 'pakur' stones needed to give finishing layer of the national highways, the crisis persisted for a long time.
When asked how the project's progress was shown during the last five months despite the stone crisis and non-availability of such stones in the country, an official said contractors tried to manage stones from different importers on small scale.
"There was some supply but with disruption. As these kinds of stones are also needed for other road construction projects, the mega project like Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane has faced the crisis most," he told the FE on condition of anonymity.
However, sources said due to the stone supply disruption, completion of the entire 192. 3 km work will need another construction period.
They argued that as the authority has to open already constructed road to traffic due to heavy pressure, the contractors have to carry out the finishing work on those roads.
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