Road expansion project fails to serve purpose

The ongoing road widening project in busy Saidpur municipality under the district may prove futile to ease traffic jam as the electric poles of Power Development Board (PDB) have been kept in their previous positions, three feet inside on both sides of the now expanded thoroughfares.

Local municipality and PDB authorities have blame each other for the situation.

Saidpur municipality authority started implementing the 'roads widening and rehabilitation project' in March this year under Municipal Governance Support Programme financed by World Bank, sources said.

Under this project to be completed by March 2016, Tk 3.32 crore was allocated for expansion of two busy roads Shaheed Dr Zikrul Huque Road and Sher-e-Bangla Road, they said.

As per the project, existing 18 feet roads are to be widened to 24 feet, expanding three feet on each side, to relieve traffic jam in the busy municipality area.

Visiting the project site on Wednesday, it was found that the work of Shaheed Dr Zikrul Huque Road is on but at least 24 electric poles, kept in their previous positions, now stand three feet inside the road on both sides, making six feet expanded portion of the road virtually unusable for vehicles.

Similar situation prevails on the already expanded Sher-e-Bangla Road where at least 20 electric poles are standing as before.

"The road expansion brings no benefit as we cannot use the expanded three feet portion on both the sides due to existence of poles," said Md Hafiz, a microbus driver.

There should be planned road expansion in the busy town where thousands of traders from nearby districts come for business purposes, said Zikrul Islam, former commander of Saidpur upazila unit of Muktijoddha Sangsad.

The town also accommodates Saidpur Railway Workshop employing thousands of workers.

Mohammad Ali Jinnah, executive engineer of local PDB office, said the municipality authorities started road expansion work without giving them sufficient time to shift the electric poles.

On the other hand, Shahidul Islam, executive engineer of Saidpur municipality, said, "Before starting work, we sent letter to PDB to shift the poles. We waited for months but they showed utter indifference to the matter. If we waited further, the foreign funded project would have been cancelled."

Saidpur municipality Mayor Amzad Hossain Sarker said he has sent letter to power, energy and mineral resources ministry, requesting immediate step to solve the problem for greater interest of people.