Road transport to get big push

The country's road transport sector will get a big boost this week as 150 bridges and 14 overpasses under the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) network are set to open this Thursday.

Apart from these, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a programme will also inaugurate the constructions of two major bridges in Mymensingh to improve road connectivity of the area's land ports with the capital. 

She will also launch the automated Vehicle Inspection Centre (VIC) in the capital's Mirpur; a newly constructed building of Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority in Tejgaon, and BRTC's bus depot and training centre in Myemensingh.

Hasina, at the same programme at the RHD headquarters in the capital's Tejgaon area, will inaugurate the compensation programme for road accident victims as well.

"Opening such a big number of bridges will increase the capacity and efficiency of the RHD road network while opening the overpasses on major highways will also improve road safety,"

— Syed Moinul Hasan RHD's Chief Engineer

ROAD CAPACITY & SAFETY

On November 7 last year, Hasina opened 100 bridges under the RHD network – the largest number of bridges to be opened in a single day.

This time, she is set to open 150 bridges in 39 districts under eight divisions.

Of the bridges, 40 are in Mymensingh division, 32 in Dhaka, 27 in Chattogram, 22 in Rajshahi, 12 in Khulna, eight each in Barishal and Rangpur, and one in Sylhet.

Meanwhile, eight of the 14 overpasses are in Rajshahi division and six in Rangpur.

"Opening such a big number of bridges will increase the capacity and efficiency of the RHD road network while opening the overpasses on major highways will also improve road safety," RHD's Chief Engineer Syed Moinul Hasan told The Daily Star yesterday.

The PM will inaugurate the constructions of Kewatkhali bridge and Rahmatpur bridge over the Brahmaputra in Mymensingh.

Kewatkhali bridge, set to be the largest steel-arch bridge in the country, will be constructed at a cost of Tk 3263.63 crore, while the 1471-metre Rahmatpur bridge will be constructed at a cost of Tk 358 crore.

Deadlines of both projects is June 2025.

VEHICLE FITNESS TEST

The VIC that Hasina will open on Thursday at the BRTA office in Mirpur will carry out automatic vehicle fitness tests. It will be able to test 500-600 vehicles per day.

The BRTA will, for the first time, give the task of checking motor vehicles' fitness to a private company.

Computer Network System Limited, which provides several services to the BRTA, is supposed to establish, operate and maintain the VIC for five years at a cost of Tk 105.23 crore.

It will provide training to 200 BRTA staffers.

Currently, the BRTA issues the vital clearance mostly manually. The only digital machine it has remains unfunctional.

COMPENSATION FOR ROAD SAFETY VICTIMS

The PM will provide Tk 7.08 crore as compensation to 162 road accident victims or their families after opening the compensation programme on Thursday. 

"This is the first time that compensation is being given to road accident victims [under the Road Transport Act-2018] … It is another humanitarian step taken by the government," BRTA Chairman Nur Mohammad Mazumder told this newspaper yesterday.

Families of 136 victims, who have died on the road, will get Tk 5 lakh each, while one seriously injured victim will get Tk 3 lakh and 25 other injured victims will get Tk 1 lakh each. 

A trustee board, led by the BRTA chairman, finalised the list from 396 applications by victims seeking compensation. Some of the applications are still under scrutiny. Once verified, the victims will receive their due compensation.