City gets new roads shortly

A recent photo shows the flyover part of Bijoy Sarani-Tejgaon road, which is almost completed and expected to open anytime this month. It will connect the Old Airport Road with Tajuddin Ahmed Sarani near Nabisco intersection. Photo: Shawkat Jamil

Dhaka city dwellers are likely to get a new street this month and construction of another one will be done in July.
Two more roads are expected to be completed by 2012.
The construction of Bijoy Sarani-Tejgaon Road and the street from Staff College in Mirpur cantonment under Mirpur-12 to Zia Colony is almost completed.
Begunbari-Hatirjheel peripheral road and the road from Kuril to Debagram Kanchan under Rupganj upazila in Narayanganj are under construction.
Of the streets, the 1,114-metre-long and 60-feet-wide Bijoy Sarani-Tejgaon Road will connect the Old Air Port Road with Tajuddin Ahmed Sarani near Nabisco intersection in Tejgaon.
Over 99 percent of the work is done, said Anwar Hossain, director of the project to build the road. Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha is entrusted with implementing the project.
He said some finishing touches are being given which will be done by April 10.
"There is a possibility for the street to be opened to public on April 16 and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to open the road," said another official of Rajuk.
However, chief adviser to the last caretaker government Fakhruddin Ahmed on December 16, 2008 inaugurated the road even though some tasks, including construction of overpass at Tejgaon level crossing and demolition of Rangs Bhaban, were unfinished.
A total of 24 structures, including a portion of 22-storey Rangs Bhaban, came under acquisition to build the road while Rajuk since first week of November, 2007 demolished 44 illegal structures standing on the planned link road.
The Executive Committee of National Economic Council in the last week of August, 2007 approved the plan to build the road at an estimated cost of Tk 120 crore, later revised it to Tk 114 crore. And the allocation for the overpass was increased from Tk 39 crore to Tk 47 crore.
Construction of another street, a 6.30-km-long road from Staff College to Zia Colony, is also going on and likely to be completed by July.
Around 60 percent work of the 35-metre-long and 17.50-metre-wide bridge, a part of the road, has been completed and the rest will be done by July, said sources involved with the work.
The road will connect Mirpur-12 with Airport Road. Armed forces division started the work in May, 2006.
About half the asphalt-laying job of the 60 to 75-feet-wide road has been done, sources said.
The two roads connecting east to west will reduce congestion in the city, as the number of east-west roads is very small, said Prof Nazrul Islam, noted urban researcher and chairman of University Grants Commission.
He said Bijoy Sarani-Tejgaon Road would ease traffic jam near Prime Minister's Office. People from Mohammadpur and Shyamoli will be able to go to Tejgaon directly.
Nazrul said the residents of Mirpur and Pallabi will be able to reach Hazrat Shahjalal Airport and Uttara within a short time using Staff College-Zia Colony Road.
The construction of the 10-km-long peripheral road around the Hatirjheel-Begunbari canal is also going on.
Buet Prof Mujibur Rahman, who led the team assigned for the feasibility study on the Hatirjheel-Begunbari canal development project, said they have finished 9.50-km of the 10-km road and expect to open the Hatirjheel ring road without asphalt laying by next year.
Under the project, some tasks, including tarmac-laying, construction of bridges at three points--one near Tongi Diversion Road, two in the middle of the road-embankment and another near Rampura Road--will be done by 2012, he said.
All the lanes and by-lanes in the areas will be connected with the planned peripheral road, said a Rajuk official.
The Tk 1480.98-crore project titled "Integrated Development of Hatirjheel Area including Begunbari Canal" is entrusted with five agencies--Rajuk, the main implementing agency, Wasa, LGED, 16 HWO of Bangladesh Army and Buet.
The construction of Kuril-Debagram Kanchan road is also supervised by Rajuk. The land filling work of the 13-km-long and 300-feet-wide road will be completed by June.
Three bridges and three culverts will be constructed at different points of the road and tender process for the work is ongoing, said another official of Rajuk.
The estimated cost of constructing the road is Tk 500 crore which will come from the Purbachal New Town Project fund, said the official.
The road is scheduled to be completed by 2012, he said.