Staff Reporter :
The odd situation persists for years. In the sunny days, it is hard to take breath because of cloud of dust and toxic gas. In the rainy season, pedestrians and vehicles have to find their way through knee-deep water. Mayor comes and mayor goes but nothing is changed. It’s a common scenario of the roads in the capital city Dhaka.
According to the officials of the Dhaka City Corporations, north and south, different utility services are conducting digging in more than 50 percent of the city roads.
However, their estimation does not match the reality. At present, over 75 per cent of the city roads and by-lanes are almost unusable due to uncoordinated digging.
As many as 26 utility services, including Dhaka WASA, BTCL, Titas, DESA and DESCO, are now implementing different projects in the city, with promises to complete these on time.
One example can be cited here. The WASA is conducting its pipe repairing work on the Khilgaon-Tilpapara road. It was scheduled to complete by 28 days. But 45 days have already elapsed; the project is far from completion. The RFL Company is supervising the project. Nobody knows when it will complete.
As per information available, the total amount of roads in Dhaka city is 2350 kilometers. Except VIP Road, most of the city’s main thoroughfares are now facing debacles due to cutting and digging. Of them, the condition of Rokeya Sarani and Mirpur-10 to Mirpur-12 is miserable.
Officials said digging now continues on 27 main roads and 250 side-roads under the DNCC. Besides, the DNCC itself is conducting development works on 269 roads.
On the other hand, different utility services are conducting works on 15 main roads under the DSCC. That means, out of 1000 kilometers roads, the condition of 400 kilometers is the worse.
On the persisting traffic congestion, DSCC Mayor Sayeed Khokan assured the city dwellers of completing the projects before monsoon.
DNCC Mayor Annisul Huq on Monday said: “It is not possible to resolve problems overnight. We’ve to turn Dhaka into a smart city slowly with the help of all quarters.”
The Mayor admitted that he could complete only 30 per cent of the total works after taking charge two years ago. “The city corporation lacks the capacity to provide civic amenities,” he said.
