Rush in road repair ahead of adviser’s visit

The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has launched an initiative to ease the long-standing traffic congestion on the Brahmanbaria section of the Dhaka–Sylhet highway. Bricks are being laid in three layers to level the damaged portions of the road in the Sarail Bishwaroad area.

However, piles of bricks and sand left in the middle of the highway have further intensified traffic congestion, creating severe suffering for commuters.

Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, Adviser to the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges, is scheduled to visit the area next Wednesday. Locals said that the repair work has been hurriedly started due to the adviser’s visit.

Locals also believe that once the adviser leaves, the bricks will be removed again, calling it a waste of money. However, RHD authorities say this is repair work, not renovation; the bricks will not be removed, and the work is part of a permanent solution.

According to sources from the Brahmanbaria and Cumilla RHD offices, following the reports in various media about long-standing traffic congestion on the Brahmanbaria section of the Dhaka-Sylhet highway, instructions were issued from various government departments last Saturday — effective action to ease traffic at the Sarail Bishwaroad section had to be taken within 72 hours.

Subsequently, road repair work started on Saturday afternoon at the Sarail Bishwaroad intersection. Bricks are being laid in three layers. The roundabout section is 12 metres wide and 185 metres long, while from the roundabout to the Sarail-Kuttapara playground towards Sylhet, the work covers 190 metres in length and 10.3 metres in width with three layers of bricks and sand.

Bricks manufactured automatically in Dhaka, Cumilla, Munshiganj, and Brahmanbaria are being brought in. A total of 400,000 bricks will be laid. Three-layer brick-laying work continued at the intersection from Saturday afternoon until Sunday night.

Several RHD officials said that on Wednesday morning, Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, Adviser to the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges, will travel by train from Dhaka to Bhairab and then proceed by road to Sarail Bishwaroad. He will inspect the intersection’s damaged areas, the congested zones, and the ongoing repair work.

Ibrahim Khan Sadat, General Secretary of Brahmanbaria Public Library, said, “For a year, people have been suffering, and the RHD or project officials did not seem concerned. Now, road repair has started because the adviser is coming. After the inspection, they will dig up the road and remove the bricks again — it is a waste of money. The adviser should see the actual condition of the road. Doesn’t our suffering affect them?”

Project Manager Shamim Ahmed said that the local road division and the Dhaka-Sylhet highway authorities are jointly carrying out repair work on 600 to 700 metres of the road. The four-lane project is not doing anything here.

Sources from RHD, district administration, and police said that the four-lane expansion work on the 50.58-kilometre highway from Ashuganj River Port through Sarail Bishwaroad to Akhaura Land Port has been progressing slowly for the past eight years. The project, costing Tk 57.91 billion, is being implemented by Indian contractor Afcons Infrastructure Limited.

After the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government, the ongoing project, funded with domestic and Indian loans, was halted. Officials of the Indian contractor left the country. Nearly three months later, they returned and resumed work, during which much of their materials were lost.

After 5 August, the project’s progress slowed further. At the contractor’s request, the Bangladesh government allocated an additional Tk 16.37 billion at the end of September.

Project Manager Shamim Ahmed said, “Tk 16.3 billion has been newly allocated to resolve the project’s issues. We hope the project will be completed within the next two months.”

Replying to a query about why work had not started earlier despite the long-standing public sufferings, an RHD official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Prothom Alo, “This is not a repair job, it is a major project. We were waiting for instructions. If we had taken the initiative ourselves, questions would have arisen. Only after receiving directives from the highest level of the state did we start work as part of a permanent solution.”

Vesting the area from Saturday evening to Sunday night and Monday morning, layers of bricks and sand were seen lying in the intersection area. Senior RHD officials were seen until Sunday night, but none were present on Monday morning. Piles of bricks and sand on different parts of the road have caused traffic congestion, creating hardship for vehicles traveling from Dhaka to Brahmanbaria.

Sub-Divisional Engineer Rokon Uddin told Prothom Alo, “We are laying bricks in three layers to ease public suffering following instructions from higher authorities.”

Additional Chief Engineer of RHD Cumilla region Abu Hena Mohammed Tareq Iqbal said that work has begun on an urgent basis to reduce public hardship. The bricks will not be removed from here. Once the three layers of bricks are laid, traffic congestion will not occur, he added.