Bumpy roads shake up businesses
Around 15,000 factories -- from giant denim to spinning mills, readymade garments, ceramics, tiles, glass and pharmaceutical plants -- all are facing serious problems with carrying raw materials and getting the finished goods out due to the battered condition of the Dhaka-Mymensingh road networks.
The condition of the roads has become so bad in the rainy season that public transport owners on Thursday suspended operations of inter-district buses on the highway indefinitely.
This is the first time in the country's history that transport owners suspended services demanding repair of a highway.
Businesses fear that the consequences on the economy would be grave if it continues for long, as these dilapidated roads cause seemingly never-ending gridlocks almost every day.
“Industrial production will be affected as the zone is a big contributor to the country's economic activities,” said Mir Nasir Hossain, owner of Mir Ceramics located beside the Dhaka-Mymensingh Road.
Hossain, also a former president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), said his factory is facing serious troubles for want of raw materials.
“When fragile finished goods are transported through the road, breakages occur. The broken goods have to be replaced which causes heavy financial losses,” said Hossain.
Iftekhar Uddin Farhad, chairman and managing director of Farr Ceramics, a 100 percent export-oriented factory, suffers more as he is losing foreign buyers.
“I could not take a buyer to my factory even after spending more than 12 hours on the highway, from Radisson Hotel. He left the hotel at 8-30am and managed to make it to Joydebpur intersection at 3pm, but returned to the hotel at 9pm without visiting the factory,” Farhad said.
He said around 15,000 small, medium and large factories are located on both sides of the Dhaka-Mymensingh road starting from Tongi in Dhaka to Trishal of Mymensingh.
“When many countries lure foreign buyers to come in and buy their goods, Bangladesh is forcing them to leave.”
It is not the case with Hossain or Farhad only. All the businesses located on both sides of the 120-km highway are affected. Besides hundreds of garment factories and other manufacturing units, the area has become a hub for supply of meat, egg, vegetables and other food items.
According to businesses, at least one-third of the country's $105 billion economic activities are linked with this belt. But the premier highway through which all these goods are carried in and out is cratered with large and small potholes that brim with water even after a light shower.
“We have shortfalls in infrastructure, but it is more frustrating when one finds even the existing ones are unusable as those are poorly managed and maintained,” said Hossain.
The former FBCCI president said he has not been able to visit his factory for the past one month as it takes him five hours to reach there.
Nasir Glass Industry, a state-of-the-art float glass factory, is facing serious trouble in carrying finished goods out of the factory due to the dilapidated roads.
“It is unacceptable when I see a whole day is to be wasted to visit a factory just 50-km away from Dhaka,” said Abu Sayeed, general manager of Nasir Glass Industry.
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