No joy in a city of potholes and craters

FE Team | Published: August 25, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Enayet Rasul
August 16 was a red letter day in the memory of residents of a so called elite area of the city, Uttara and its outskirts. Commuters sat in their transports for hours and hours, their transports remaining motionless most of the time. When the same moved, they only crawled at snail's pace to come to a standstill again. This mode in the movement of traffic continued for long eleven hours at a stretch.
This was a crisis day for those who live in that part of the city. But not only them, others who pass through this area specially the ones traveling on inter-district routes, all faced the same fate on that day. But for the sufferers this was not a unique experience. For they have been enduring such problems on a lesser but serious scale from the peak period of the monsoon season. The tops of the roads here broke down in many places and potholes appeared. There are also many holes the size of ditches. Specially the road near Abdullapur crossing at Uttara has such a shape. Cars, buses and trucks have to move exceptionally carefully and very slowly to get around the holes causing the traffic jams. Sometimes, the vehicles also turn turtle giving rise to accidents. At Uttara alone, at least 180 potholes and craters have been identified covering more than 2766.58 square metres of surface roads.
Uttara is the main gateway to Bangladesh. After disembarking at the Zia International Airport, visitors specially foreign ones, pass through this area on their way to hotels and other destinations. What impressions do they get from seeing and suffering the long lingering road jams here ? Surely, what they see and suffer are not investor-friendly. For many foreign investors the first impressions of a country are the last impressions. What negative things they encounter on arriving in a country can be enough to turn off their enthusiasm for investment.
And not only in Uttara, road conditions are found to be similar in other parts of the city. Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) has recorded numerous reports of broken down and dilapidated roads. In Zone 7 of the DCC, potholes have been reported on the part of the road stretching from Mirpur Mazar Road to Selina General Hospital, on the road from SOS Shishu Polli to Shyamoli No 2, at intersection of Darussalam Road and Mirpur Road, Ibrahimpur main road, and on the road from Kazipara via Shewrapara to Kafrul. Damaged roads in Zone 6 include Nurjahan Road, Jakir Hossain Road, Mirpur Road, Indira Road, Baitul Aman main road, Pisciculture main road and roads in Lalmatia Block D. In Zone 9, numerous roads in Gulshan, Banani, Tejgaon and Badda, specially Gulshan-Badda Link Road, have developed craters
In Zone 3, many roads including Pilkhana Road, Orphanage Road, Shayesta Khan Road, Chawk Circular Road, Haranath Ghosh Road and Bakshibazar Road are badly in need of repairs. Many areas in Zone 1 including Swamibagh, Joy kali Mondir, Jatrabari, Doyaganj, Narinda, Sayedabad, Gandaria and Wari, are full of roads with potholes. Tipu Sultan Road and the road stretching from Maniknagar crossing via Janapath Road to Dhalpur, are also in need of repairs. Poorly maintained roads in Zone 4 include the road from Mugda to Titipara stadium, Kamlapur main road stretching from the rail terminal to Titipara stadium, VIP roads of Motijheel, the road from Malibagh crossing to Kamlapur rail terminal, and roads of Basabo, Madartek and Khilgaon.
The DCC and the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) are jointly responsible for maintenance of roads within the city and the intercity roads. What are they doing ? Little or nothing it seems. One excuse is that they can do nothing till the raining ends because the rains would wash away any works done now. This excuse can be only partially valid. Repaving may have to wait for some time for realising the costs-benefits of the same. But what is holding them back from temporary but very urgent repairs of the badly broken road surfaces ? Specially the filling of the ditches cannot wait. It needs to be carried out immediately or at the fastest because traffic movement is about to collapse in the affected parts of the city. There is no need to explain how such traffic paralysis translates into great economic losses also apart from the sheer human sufferings. At least the DCC should be setting up by now some sort of warning signs on the sides of the craters to help in the avoidance of accidents.