THIS daily on Thursday reported that the Purabi-Kalshi connecting road in Mirpur is now in an extremely bad shape due to numerous potholes causing immense suffering to commuters. The report has blamed heavy traffic pressure resulting from indifference in maintenance of the 1.4km road; which is moreover worsening on almost daily basis. The road also connects the 1.8km flyover from Matikata of the area to Airport Road through Zia Colony easing up traffic movement in the city’s northern region. But the entire objective of the new road and the flyover has almost been compromised so far in absence of effective supervision and repair of the road forcing commuters to go by alternative roads covering long distance.
The Purabi-Kalshi road condition has meanwhile further deteriorated with the unfinished widening work of the road which was originally taken up by the Dhaka Northern City Corporation (DNCC) in February last year before the T-20 World Cup cricket tournament. The project was taken up at a cost of Tk 115 crore including installation of a sewerage line by the Local Government Engineering Division and the army was entrusted with the project implementation. It saw impressive progress before the tournament but then remained almost abandoned making the entire road highly dilapidated and not smoothly usable to motorists.
Meanwhile, authorized encroachers who were evicted with their shops from the roadsides made their way back using their local political backing and it is making the project implementation further difficult. As the situation now evolves, commuters while plying vehicles face several under-construction culverts causing staggering tailback on the road. Even, once a car gets stuck up, it cannot turn back without any opening on road divider at reasonable distance thus adding to spilling up of traffic congestion.
More than 3000 vehicles now use the route, though the number was supposed to be double. Moreover the Matikata-Airport flyover was supposed to run over 10,000 vehicles daily but the actual number of users now is around 5,000 as many people are avoiding the Purabi-Kalshi road leading to the flyover.
As the situation suggests, the DNCC authorities and its project implementation agencies are not showing enough attention to finish the widening work of the Purabi-Kalshi road to create a comfortable running condition of the road, although the implementation time schedules have already run out. They are also failing to repair the potholes on the road adding to the woes of the local residents and those who use this road section for a short-cut journey to other parts of the city. We urge the authorities concerned to take an urgent look into the matter.
The Purabi-Kalshi road condition has meanwhile further deteriorated with the unfinished widening work of the road which was originally taken up by the Dhaka Northern City Corporation (DNCC) in February last year before the T-20 World Cup cricket tournament. The project was taken up at a cost of Tk 115 crore including installation of a sewerage line by the Local Government Engineering Division and the army was entrusted with the project implementation. It saw impressive progress before the tournament but then remained almost abandoned making the entire road highly dilapidated and not smoothly usable to motorists.
Meanwhile, authorized encroachers who were evicted with their shops from the roadsides made their way back using their local political backing and it is making the project implementation further difficult. As the situation now evolves, commuters while plying vehicles face several under-construction culverts causing staggering tailback on the road. Even, once a car gets stuck up, it cannot turn back without any opening on road divider at reasonable distance thus adding to spilling up of traffic congestion.
More than 3000 vehicles now use the route, though the number was supposed to be double. Moreover the Matikata-Airport flyover was supposed to run over 10,000 vehicles daily but the actual number of users now is around 5,000 as many people are avoiding the Purabi-Kalshi road leading to the flyover.
As the situation suggests, the DNCC authorities and its project implementation agencies are not showing enough attention to finish the widening work of the Purabi-Kalshi road to create a comfortable running condition of the road, although the implementation time schedules have already run out. They are also failing to repair the potholes on the road adding to the woes of the local residents and those who use this road section for a short-cut journey to other parts of the city. We urge the authorities concerned to take an urgent look into the matter.
