Dhaka-Chattogram Highway: Maintenance to take more time, money

The road authorities have to spend more resources, including money and time, to keep the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway operational, thanks to its delayed maintenance works and rutting caused by continuous plying of overloaded vehicles.

Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has sought two more years and Tk 189 crore more for implementing a Tk 793.14 crore project, initiated in 2019 and slated to be completed by June this year, for strengthening the road and keeping it operational, said officials.

The revision, if approved, will take the total project cost to Tk 982 crore and the deadline to June 2025. The proposal is currently pending at the Planning Commission, they added.

This highway is considered the economic lifeline of the country, as over 90 percent of Bangladesh's foreign trade depends on Chattogram Port and the current four-lane highway. However, indecision, shortsightedness, and piecemeal measures have plagued the road's upgrade for a long time.

The department had completed a project in 2016 to expand the highway from Cumilla's Daudkandi to Chattogram. Nevertheless, the road developed ruts within the next couple of years due to overload and poor traffic forecast, forcing the authorities to take up the maintenance project.

The Dhaka-Daukandi part of the highway was expanded under separate projects.

The 2019 project was RHD's first attempt at ensuring performance-based maintenance, meaning that the contractor will repair the road whenever necessary to keep it operational for the next four years.

The authorities, however, failed to start the project on time.

The prolonged procedure of getting approval to import bitumen is what caused the delay, informed Abu Hena Mohammed Tareq Iqbal, the project director.

"It took us about a year to get the approval as the item was not mentioned as an importable product. Also, work was suspended on various occasions, including Eid, further adding to the delays. Nevertheless, 75 percent of the major repairs are already done," he added.

Additional money is needed to repair the rutting as the damage was more severe than the department had anticipated during the preparation stage, he mentioned.

"The rutting continues as overloading could not be controlled," he added.

The authorities, for the first time, imposed fines for overloading in August 2016. However, protesting transport owners and workers damaged the weighbridges in Manikganj and Chattogram on the first day.

This compelled the authorities to increase the maximum weight limit of goods-laden vehicles in November 2017.

Currently, two of three weighbridges are operational at two points on the highway.

A maximum of 22 tonnes is permitted to be carried by two-axle (six wheeled) vehicles, while three-axle (10 wheeled) ones can carry a maximum of 30 tonnes, nationwide. Four-axle (14 wheeled) vehicles are allowed up to 44 tonnes.

However, as per the global standards, the limits are 15.5, 22, and 32 tonnes respectively.

Tareq Iqbal, also the additional chief engineer (Cumilla zone) of RHD declined to comment on the issue.

Meanwhile, RHD is now working to determine whether the highway will have six or eight lanes to deal with the growing traffic demand. The expansion work is expected to start in late 2025.

Asked if the money for maintenance work will be wasted again when the project resumes, Tareq said, "We have to maintain the road to keep this important highway operational."