Work of Bijoy Sarani-Tejgaon Link Road in progress.Photo: STAR

The Bijoy Sarani-Tejgaon link road is unlikely to be completed by December although the government has set December 15 as deadline to complete the project.
The project consists of three components -- 500 metres long and 60 metres wide surface road, a 618-metre overpass and demolition of the 22-storey Rangs Bhaban.
The road could be ready by December but removal of the giant Rangs Bhaban and construction of the overpass at Tejgaon level crossing will take more time, experts said.
“In fact, practically the whole project requires at least three more months to be completed properly,” said a project official on condition of anonymity.
But Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, who headed a 31-member advisory committee on Strategic Transport Planning (STP) for Dhaka, said normally it takes one to one and a half years to build a railway overpass.
The government has set December 16, the Victory Day, for opening the road.
Rajuk issued the work order to a joint-venture construction firm of Rupayan Prokousholi (RP) Constructions and Udayan on June 24 with a six-month deadline to build the overpass at Tejgaon level crossing at a cost of Tk 39 crore, said the project officials.
Rajuk Chief Engineer Md Shah Alam said work of the foundation piling of the overpass is now going on while only groundwork of 50 percent of the surface road is underway.
The much-hyped project is apprehended to face uncertainty after the caretaker government steps down and new government takes over following general elections in December, according to sources concerned.
“It would be better if the present administration completes the project within December,” said Aziz Ahmed, a local trader in the project area.
While Bhuiyan Engineers Ltd has got the work order for construction of the road, Six Stars, a ship breaking firm, has got contract for demolition of the Rangs Bhaban.
Bhuiyan Engineers got Tk 3.80-crore work order on March 25.
Enamul Haque of Bhuyan Engineers said they formally started the work on June 17. But there are lots of obstructions in constructing the proposed road. At least 7 to 8 buildings on the road are now being demolished. Apart from this, there are gas, sewer and electricity lines that need to be removed from the project area.
While talking to this correspondent on September 15, Haque said he would be able to start the work of making sub-base (ground preparation for base) of a small stretch of the road by next one week. Then laying base course and asphalted carpeting will be done.
“But we cannot work in full swing because of obstructions of different kinds,” said Haque. “This kind of delay increases the construction cost.”
Haque also said they cannot make the full use of equipment like soil compactor, excavator and drum truck in such a situation. Conflicting claims for boundary line by the private plot owners is another complication that hinders smooth progress of the work.
On the other hand, a stretch of at least 100 metres of the proposed road is occupied with the rubbles of Rangs Bhaban. Authorities will not be able to remove it before end of November, said official sources.
However, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk), implementing agency of the project, has meantime sorted out some court cases filed by affected building owners.
On a visit to the site, at least seven buildings were found being manually demolished on the road's alignment.
The government had to acquire a total of 24 structures to build the link road. A number of owners of the acquired buildings filed cases in April against the office of Dhaka's deputy commissioner (DC) and Rajuk demanding adequate compensation.
Rajuk chief engineer Md Shah Alam said all the cases filed by building owners have been resolved. “We have deposited due compensations with the DC office for the acquired property and now there is no legal complications in implementing the project,” he said.
Replying to whether they would be able to complete the project by December deadline, the chief engineer said, “It is difficult to foretell it now but our target is December.”
Ujjal Mallick, executive engineer of the project and in-charge of demolishing the Rangs Bhaban, said the government has attached the highest effort to this project.
“Let's see how far we can go, we are working day and night to complete the project,” he said. “We will be able to pull down the whole of Rangs Bhaban structure by December and will require some more time to clear off the rubbles.”
Rajuk started demolition of the building on August 3, 2007 and it has so far been able to knock down only upper half of the 22-storey structure.
According to experts, the 60-foot wide link road will create severe bottleneck in traffic movement instead of easing it up. The 120-foot wide Bijoy Sarani will be narrowed down to 60 feet at the linking point. Actual carriageway of the proposed road is 46 feet (each of the two lanes is 23 feet wide) with 6-foot wide footpaths on the drainage pipelines on both the sides and a two-foot wide median.
It will obviously create a 'funnel-like situation' for traffic movement, according to Prof Mujibur Rahman of civil engineering department at Buet.
The Department of Architecture (DoA) and Rajuk jointly prepared the alignment of the extension of Bijoy Sarani in 2000, as part of Nakhalpara Development Project.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved the link road project on August 28, 2007 at a cost of Tk 122 crore.