Questions raised over narrow approach roads

The photo, taken from Bashbari of Mohammadpur, shows the narrow lane that leads to the Third Buriganga Bridge in Basila in Dhaka. As the road gets congested at any time of the day, with the inauguration of the bridge the area would become almost inaccessible. Photo: SK Enamul Haq

The Third Buriganga Bridge in Basila has been completed without ensuring proper approach roads on both sides of the bridge, which could render the bridge almost useless, said locals and sources in the Roads and Highways Department.
The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development donated Tk 49 crore for construction of the Third Buriganga Bridge project at Basila. The idea was to connect vast areas of Keraniganj and connect the western part of the city with Savar Road in the north and Mawa Road in the south. The bridge is now awaiting inauguration.
On Mohammadpur end of the bridge, the approach road begins from the end of Satmasjid Road with a 20-foot-wide lane winding its way at Katashur. This narrow lane witnesses perennial traffic congestion at any time of the day even without the bridge functioning now. Locals expressed their fear that with the inauguration of the bridge the area would become almost inaccessible.
On the other end of the bridge the road becomes a 10-foot-wide lane at Ghatar Char winding its way through Atir Bazar and Keraniganj, virtually making it impossible for traffic movement. Moreover, the bridge at Atir Bazar over Atir Khal is so dilapidated that even small vehicles have to get on it with caution.
An engineer of the R&H department requesting anonymity said the Third Buriganga Bridge could never serve its purpose until these approach roads are widened.
"The vertical clearance of the bridge is already hampering navigation on the river. And now lack of connecting roads will simply make this bridge useless," said the engineer.
R&H official sources said on several occasions they had raised the matter in meetings with different departments of the government.
"The R&H cannot build roads in the city unless it is directed to do so. So we provided the Dhaka City Corporation with proper maps and asked them to connect the approach road with Satmasjid Road in Mohammadpur. They (the DCC) were not interested," said another R&H engineer requesting anonymity.
An official of the DCC's engineering department said they could not take up the project of building the approach road as it required acquiring lands in Katashur, which belong to an influential quarter who are building a massive market-cum-residential bloc.
"We do not know how Rajuk approved such a project which lies on the very path of Satmasjid Road towards the bridge," he said.
Locals said with a truck stand in the vicinity and movement of heavy vehicles, rickshaws, buses, auto-rickshaws and others, Katashur Road leading to the Flood Protection Embankment and towards the bridge always remains blocked.
Lawmaker of Mohammadpur area and State Minister for Local Government Rural Development and Cooperatives Jahangir Kabir Nanok said he had visited the area several times and thought that the bridge would be "meaningless" without the connecting roads.
"The Minister for Communications Syed Abul Hossain has personally directed the Dhaka City Corporation to immediately build the approach road. We are pursuing the matter very seriously," Nanok said.
Lawmaker of Keraniganj and State Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Md Quamrul Islam told The Daily Star that he was aware of the problem of narrow roads connecting the bridge.
"We are working with relevant authorities to start building the approach roads within a very short time," he said
Meanwhile, R&H officials unveiled plans to build a 1.61-km-long connecting road on the Keraniganj side at a cost of Tk 50 crore.
"We shall connect the road with Taranagar and also rebuild four bridges under the scheme," said an R&H engineer.