A bridge too low

An under-construction bridge on the Kapotaksha river in Jashore has been built with low vertical clearance, which will obstruct the movement of medium-size vessels, says a BIWTA official.

This is one of the two three-lane bridges financed by Jica under the Cross-Border Road Network Improvement Project of Roads and Highways Department (RHD). The construction of the second bridge is yet to begin.

"In a recent visit to the construction site, we found the vertical clearance of the bridge is around 15 feet. It should have been at least 25 feet considering the class-3 river route," said Ashraf Hossain, deputy director of BIWTA.

"No medium size vessels will be able to ply the waterway because of the low vertical clearance of the bridge," he said.

A proposed capital dredging project will also be hampered as, the BIWTA official said, the bridge will obstruct operations of dredgers.

The RHD did not take approval from Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), which is mandatory for constructing a bridge over a river, he added.

Currently, operation of vessels beneath the bridge is suspended because of the construction work and dumping of construction materials.

Locals, including environmentalists, have been protesting the "faulty" construction of the bridge on the 38km Jashore-Benapole highway, which plays a vital role in bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh.

That three-lane bridge has been built in a way that plying of even small boats will be difficult during monsoon, said Iqbal Kabir Zahid, chief advisor of Kapotaksha Bachao Andolon, a platform working to save the river.

Crores of Taka has gone down the drain for the faulty design, he also said.

Contacted, Shyamal Kumar Bhattacharyya, director of Cross-Border Road Network Improvement Project, said "Generally, we take approval when the river route is defined by the BIWTA."

"But for this route where the bridge has been built on, we didn't take a written approval from the BIWTA as the route is not defined by them".

However, according to the Rules of Construction Control at Inland Water, Adjacent Areas, 2010, if any organisation wants to build any structure on a river route or a riverbank, it must take the clearance from BIWTA.

Shyamal denied the allegation that the bridge has low vertical clearance or there was any fault in its design. "There is no error from our side," he said.

"We have stopped the bridge construction work for now following a protest by a group of local people. We will resume the work when the matter is solved."

The feasibility study was done in 2015-16, the design was completed in 2017 and the work order was given in 2018, said the director.

He, however, could not say the exact cost of building the bridge.

The director said the total construction costs of this bridge and three others, an approach road and an axle load control station were around Tk 329 crores.