Kuakata road project okayed when its life expired

The rugged road to tourist spot Kuakata. Its renovation has become uncertain due to delayed approval by the government. PHOTO: STAR

The five-year project to renovate important roads in Patuakhali and Barguna districts was launched on May 1 in 2001. The project period expired on June 30 this year. The 22 km stretch of the road could not be renovated due to delayed project approval by the government.

The Patuakhali-Kuakata road development project involving Tk 126 crore was taken up considering prospects of tourism in Kuakata and fish farming in the coastal areas.

The 50 kilometre portion of the road from Patuakhali to Kalapara has been reconstructed at a cost of Tk 70 crore, provided by Danida.

Under the project, periodic maintenance of 35 kilometre other roads in Patuakhali and Barguna districts has been completed at a cost of Tk6.85 crore. These are one-kilometre Amtali-Barguna road, nine-kilometre Patuakhali-Mirzagonj road and 25-kilometre Labukhali-Baufal road.

An official of Road & Highways Department (R&H) in Patuakhali said, after completing the Patuakhali-Amtali portion of the road, Danida submitted a revised project in August 2004 to R&H Department for reconstruction of the Kalapara-Kuakata portion. The R&H department sent it to the communications ministry with a note of approval.

The ministry sent it to the Cabinet Committee, which returned it to the ministry, seeking comments from the Economic Relations Division (ERD) and the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) as it involved foreign assistance. The ministry then sent it to ERD and then to IMED.

The ministry had assured the R&H that the project would be approved by December 2004 but it was not done.

Meanwhile, the donors gave letters to ERD and the ministry to hasten the approval process. In reply, ERD assured the donors that the project would be approved by June 1, 2005 but it failed. At last, the ministry approved the project on June 30 this year when the project period ended.

"We failed to complete the Kalapara-Kuakata road as we lost 10 months from the project period due to delayed approval. Danida disagreed to extend the project",'' an official of CAMSAQ, consulting firm of the project, told this correspondent.

When contacted, R&H Executive Engineer Abdus Salam said, "A meeting was held between officials of Danida and communications ministry on June 20 this year in Dhaka, where Danida disagreed to extend the project period."

"Danida assured us that the project could be considered when they take up a new project in Bangladesh", he added.

He however said that the R&H department would complete the Kalapara-Kuakata road with its own resources if Danida finally refuses to do the work. "We will renovate the road to Kuakata tourist spot", he asserted.

The delay in project approval which left the road incomplete evoked criticism from local political leaders.

Local lawmaker Mahbuur Rahman said, "Danida should complete the whole project to establish better communication between Kuakata and the rest of the country to promote tourism and socio-economic development of people of the area".

ABM Mosharrof Hossain, president of Kalapara BNP said, "We are hopeful that Danida would complete the project to establish a better road link to the tourist spot. We have requested them through the communication ministry to complete the whole project."

Besides development of tourism, there is bright prospects for private sector fish farming in the area, and many prospective investors showed interest after road renovation was taken up.