Staff Reporter :
Severe road chaos taking place everyday from Mohakhali to Ramna, Eskaton to Mouchak and Mouchak to Malibagh due to ongoing construction work of the Moghbazar-Mouchak Flyover.
Only 50 per cent work of the two wings of the 8.25 kilometre-long Moghbazar-Mouchak Flyover has been completed so far.
The project work, which, is scheduled to be completed within December 2015, started in 2013 instead of the original schedule in 2011. Project Director (PD) MD Nazmul Hossain however claims, they are expecting to complete the work within December as per schedule.
But Dr Mujibur Rahman, Professor of Civil Engineering department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) thinks that the flyover will not be ready for traffic within December; rather it will take more time to complete the work.
“The contractors will fail to meet the latest deadline also, as less than 50 per cent physical progress had been achieved in the first 28 months of the construction while no mentionable progress has been achieved so far the design of the largest part of the project is concerned,” an official of the project said Monday.
Another project official, however, said it would be a difficult task to finish the flyover work even within the next three months though they are under heavy pressure from the government.
The project is being implemented under three packages — PDMMFP W04 (a stretch of 2.1 km from Satrastha to Ramna via Moghbazar) and PDMMFP W06 (2.2 km from Janakantha office at Eskaton to Mouchak via Moghbazar) and PDMMFP W05 (3.93 km from Malibagh Chowdhurypara to Razarbagh and Shantinagar.
He also said although the work was supposed to begin in 2011, the work orders for Package 4 (Satrasta-Holy Family Hospital) and Package 5 (Malibagh-Mouchak-Rajarbag) were given in November 2012 while that of Package 6 (Iskaton-Moghbazar-Mouchak) in October 2013.
The Australian firm SMEC International and its three local associates-ACE Consultants Limited, SARM Associates Limited and Kranti Associates Limited-are working as consultancy firms for the project.
The estimated cost of the four-lane flyover is around Tk 7.73 billion. Of the project costs, the SFD will provide more than Tk 3.75 billion and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) amounts to Tk 2.0 billion while the remaining Tk 2.0 billion will come from the public exchequer, officials said.
The project is very important for the capital’s traffic management as the flyover is designed to ease gridlock at eight intersections namely Satrasta, FDC, Moghbazar, Mouchak, Malibagh, Shantinagar, Rampura Chowdhurypara and Ramna thana.
