Connecting road to be built 7 years after bridge construction

The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) has taken an initiative to construct a 19-km road at Tk600 crore to make use of a bridge on the Kalni River in Sunamganj that was completed in 2015 at Tk22 crore, but has remained unused for not having a connecting road.

Earlier, the construction of this road was supposed to be financed by the World Bank, but due to the objection of the Department of Environment and the work not being completed on time, the World Bank withdrew the money.

Regarding this huge expenditure, the executive engineer of Sunamganj LGED office Md Mahbub Alam said the road will be built across the haor. So the plan has been made in such a way that there is no harm to the environment. Of the 19 km of road, 2.5 km will be a flyover.

Apart from this, seven big bridges and some culverts will be constructed so that the water flow of haor is not obstructed. Some lands must also be acquired. Hence the cost seems high, he added.

However, the locals have questions about the need for this bridge and road. It is alleged that the bridge was built for political reasons.

"This bridge was built only to show off 'development' without any plan for the connecting road. It has been lying unused for a long time due to unplanned construction. Now it is planned to build a road at a huge cost to make it operational," said Taufiqul Islam, a local school teacher.

However, LGED officials said that if this road is constructed from Derai upazila town through Jagdal-Hosenpur to Kalkali in Jagannathpur, the road connectivity of Dhaka with Derai and Shalla will be more convenient. 

Besides, as this road is connected with the Dhaka-Sylhet highway at Aushkandi in Habiganj, the time will save two and a half to three hours for the residents of the two upazilas. Apart from this, direct road communication will be established with the upazila headquarters of one and a half lakh residents of East Derai on the east bank of the Kalni River.

According to LGED's Sunamganj office, the construction of this 210-metre-long and 6.10-metre-wide bridge started in 2013 at the initiative of the late Suranjit Sengupta, then Member of Parliament of Derai. 

However, Dirai Upazila Engineer Iftekhar Hossain said that some vehicles can travel through this bridge during the dry season as there is a road at the eastern end of the bridge that remains underwater most of the time. Small vehicles travel through this road and bridge when the water recedes during the dry season. 

Disagreeing with the engineer's claim, Zainal Abedin Sardar, a resident of East Dirai, said that the haor area is under water for eight months of the year. As a result, this bridge will be of no use to the people of the area. 

He said that if an all-weather road is constructed, this bridge will benefit the local people.

The construction of the link road was taken after the completion of the construction of the bridge. However, the construction got stuck due to complications related to land acquisition. Later, the Environment Department objected to about a 5 km area as it is within the haor. 

The Department of Environment said the road will harm the haor. So, the construction got stuck.

Golam Mawla, the project director of this road construction, said that a project proposal of Tk600 crore for the construction of the road was submitted to the Ministry of Local Government a few months ago but it has not yet passed from the ministry. Once approved, it will be transferred to the Ministry of Planning.