Commuters' nightmare on dug up Mohakhali-Gulshan link road
The development work going on at snail's pace on the link road from Gulshan-1 to Mohakhali has been causing immense suffering for the commuters.
Ditches, piles of rubble, and lack of safety barriers on the road have been posing a threat to pedestrians and vehicles for more than six months, while dust from the construction site has been damaging public health severely, said locals.
Visiting the area, our correspondent found that construction materials are kept haphazardly all along the road from Gulshan-1 to Amtali, Mohakhali. Almost half of the northern part of the road has been dug up for constructing a drain, but there is no safety measure around it. Moreover, the middle of the road is also dug up for constructing a road divider.
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All these have rendered almost two-thirds of the four-lane road unusable, causing the vehicles to take more than one hour and a half to travel just 2 kilometre distance.
Compounding people's suffering, vehicles remain parked haphazardly on various parts of the road, on both sides of which there are a number of important government and private institutions.
There are a number of hospitals including National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital, Sheikh Russel National Gastroliver Institute, and educational institutions including the Titumir College, and the Brac University along the excavated road and people coming to these institutions throughout the day suffer heavily, especially during the rush hour.
Samia Rahman, a student of the Brac University, told TBS, "Construction work has been going on along the road for more than six months, but recently it has become almost impossible for vehicles to ply on it and we have to walk over 1 kilometre to go from Mohakhali to the campus.
"We cannot even walk properly because of the piles of rubbles and construction materials kept on the roadsides. Moreover, I have been suffering from a cold and cough for the past few days due to the dust coming from the construction work."
Samiul Hossain, a motorcyclist who travels by this road regularly, told TBS, "It takes an hour and a half to travel only 2 kilometers. Minor accidents occur almost every day due to the ditches on the road. Once I cross the road, my whole body gets covered with dust."
Amjad Hossain, driver of Alif bus line that operates on this route, told TBS that they have to change various parts of their vehicles every couple of days due to travelling on the uneven road.
"We have been getting fewer passengers on this route than before. Moreover, previously we could make four or five round-trips per day on this route, but currently we cannot make more than three trips. An accident can occur if we are even a little careless on the road full of ditches," he added.
Aggrieved common people have demanded that the authorities work at night and complete the project on time to lessen public suffering, while the Dhaka North City Corporation said they have been urging the contractor regularly to complete the work within the deadline, said sources at the Dhaka North City Corporation.
Joni Enterprises, a construction company, is the contractor for the development works including the construction of drains, road dividers, and footpaths on the road at a cost of about Tk22 crore. Initially the project was scheduled to end in December 2022, but the time period was extended to 30 June this year.
Babar Ahmed, deputy assistant engineer of Zone-3 of Dhaka North, told TBS that the construction work has been going slowly as the road was very busy and the contractor could work only on a part of it at a time.
"Besides, while constructing the drain and the road divider, the contractor had to repair underground pipelines of Dhaka Wasa, Dhaka Power Distribution Company, and other service agencies. We have extended the time till 30 June for the contractor. Hopefully, the work will be completed before then," said Babar.
Regarding the lack of safety measures, he said, "Barriers are placed on the roadsides where the construction work is going on, but they are removed sometimes to allow the movement of rickshaws and motorcycles. We are working to improve safety."
