Tremendous public sufferings are going on as large portion of streets have been kept blocked for long creating gridlock due to the construction of Moghbazar-Mouchak Flyover.
Thousands of vehicles are seen standing for hours causing immense sufferings to the passengers. The pedestrians get pain as the cnstruction equipment occupied the footpaths on both sides of the roads. Even the residents of the area are also suffering from various health hazards due to dust problem.
These are the every day’s scenario of the Moghbazar-Mouchak Flyover area.
However, the flyover project authorities denied the liability of tailback saying their works have not caused any traffic gridlock.
“We are working without blocking streets. It is the Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDS) which has cut roads and hampering traffic systems around last 45 days. But people blamed the flyover project for the tailback which is not true,” Shushanto Kumar Paul, the Project Director of the flyover, told The New Nation yesterday.
Some officials of the project said several errors in the design of the flyover were identified after a significant progress of work in the beginning of last year. Experts of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) found that the design was made for the left hand driven vehicles, but in Bangladesh the drivers drive vehicles by right hands. The design was made by a US company in 2003. The error was later corrected, they said.
Experts said if any big project was started without public hearing, it pushed to errors. The Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover faced the similar fate, the added.
“Before accepting the design finally, it would to consider that which systems of driving are followed by our drivers. The error was not found before starting the work, because it was gone without any public hearing,” said Architect Iqbal Habib.
Sources said, initially the tenure of the project was January 2011 to December 2015. But it was extended by June 2017. The project cost also increased by Tk 446.20 crore. The main budget of the project was Tk 772.20 crore. Now the project cost stood at Tk 1218.90 crore.
On the spot visit yesterday, it was found that the construction work of Shantinagar, Malibagh and Rajarbagh areas of the flyover is now going on. The drivers and shop owners said gridlock is a regular scenario in these areas.
The vehicle drivers using Malibagh-Moghbazar and Malibagh-Rampura routes alleged that the long time construction works have made the streets shrink. It left very little portions of the streets for driving vehicles which is the major cause for continuous gridlock in these areas.
“Huge numbers of iron rod and other materials have been kept on the streets. It made the roads very shrink to drive which causes the long time tailback, specially during office and school pick hours,” said Abul Kalam, a driver of Balaka Bus service.
When contacted, the Project Director told to The New Nation, “The construction work of Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover is going in full-swing. We will complete the total work by June this year.”
He said that a portion of the flyover has been opened in Eskaton-Mouchak area. “We will open Shantinagar portion of the project soon. And then Rajarbagh and Abul hotel portion will be opened. We have given importance not to create public suffering by our work,” he said.
