Sylhet Rail Station Bypass Road yet to be completed

SYLHET, Jan 21: Construction work of Sylhet Rail Station Bypass Road could not be completed within the stipulated time which ended in December 1999.

If everything goes well, it will take at least a year more, concerned sources say. However, the officials said that, works could not be completed in time due to unwanted delay in acquiring lands, dispute over payments of the landowners and natural calamities. They are now hoping to complete the work by July-August.

With a view to removing the hazardous traffic jam in most busy areas of the divisional town of Sylhet, work on the bypass road began, said an official. The Taka 10 crore project is being implemented by the Roads and Highways (R&H) Department.

In order to enter and depart from Sylhet town vehicles of all types have to cross the hazardous traffic at Rail gate, Station Road, Keane bridge approach, Central Bus-Minibus Terminal and Kadamtali inter-section. Besides, due to existence of Sylhet railway station and a number of bazars on both sides of the busy road which is considered as part of Dhaka-Sylhet highway, the situation has gone extremely miserable. It takes a long time to cross the area for the vehicles as well as for the pedestrians to enter into and go out of the town in a painful situation. Big trucks carrying coal and stones from Tamabil and Sutarkandi borders make the situation worse.

An official of the R&H said, to get rid of this situation, the project named, 'Sylhet Town Rail Station Bypass' connecting the Dhaka-Sylhet highway with Hajrat Shahjalal bridge was taken up. The bypass road having a length of 2.5 kilometres has to cross the rail track at a distance of 270 metres from the junction point of four busy roads - Hajrat Shahjalal bridge approach road, Sylhet-Fenchuganj road, Sylhet-Baroigram road and Sylhet-Jakiganj road. As the junction point is very close to the rail crossing point, it causes huge jam of vehicles on both ends during the passing of trains. The queue of vehicles will reach the junction point frequently closing all the four roads. It will create a new traffic jam point. So, the purpose of constructing the bypass road will not be served. Further more as the central bus and minibus terminal is situated near the Sylhet-Fenchuganj road's end and very close to Sylhet railway station, all buses to and from this terminal will have to cross the traffic hazardous Kadamtali inter-section point for plying over the bypass road. This will cause additional pressure to the existing traffic system of this inter section. To avoid the situation, a flyover is being constructed over the rail crossing. The length of flyover will be 21.43 metre, the official added.

In this situation, an access road of 520 metre length, connecting the bus terminal and the bypass road is proposed in the revised PP of the main project, said the official. The official further informed that, as part of the national highway, the terminal access road has been proposed to construct as national highway specification.

The official further informed that, the main objective of this project is to get rid of the painful situation of endless traffic jam at the entry and exit point of Sylhet town. The vehicles plying on the bypass road from Dhaka, Moulvibazar, Sunamganj, Habiganj, Fenchuganj, Jakiganj and other districts will cross over the rail line by the flyover without any interruption at the rail line crossing point.

Of the total amount of targetted expenditure for the project, Taka 2.6 crore will be spent for land acquisition, Taka 1.5 crore for earth filling works, Taka one crore for three bridges and culverts, Taka 1.7 crore for pavement and Taka 30 lakh for construction of RCC retaining wall, besides, construction of flyover will cost Taka 2.2 crore.

The construction work has been going on in full swing, said the official adding, about 65 per cent work have been completed. "We are expecting to make the road ready for vehicular traffic by July-August 2000," said the official.