Ongoing work for the construction of a culvert has narrowed down the Kalshi-Purabi road in Mirpur almost to half of what it actually is. Photo: Palash Khan A ride through the 1.3km stretch of road between Purabi and Kalshi in Mirpur is nothing short of a nightmare for commuters, thanks to innumerable potholes, appalling water-logging and traffic mismanagement on the road. To add to the woes of the
commuters, the construction work of a culvert near Sangbadik Colony has shrunk the road to such an extent that only one vehicle can pass the point at a time, triggering a total chaos in traffic movement. A five-minute ride on this thoroughfare that connects with Mirpur-Airport Road Flyover can take up to half an hour. The new 90-feet-long culvert, which replaces a 40 feet one, is part of a project to expand the 60-feet-wide road to 120 feet to ease traffic. But the authorities responsible for implementing the project have not taken any alternative measure so that at least two vehicles could pass through the point from both directions. Whatever portion is now left for traffic is also in bad shape, with potholes and an overflow of dirty water from manholes in places. Photo: Palash Khan The situation on this road became so unbearable yesterday following the torrential rain that hundreds of vehicles remained trapped on the road in knee-deep water for most part of the day and many of those went out of order in the stagnant water and due to hidden potholes. Even worse, once a car gets stuck, it cannot turn back due to a road divider that has no opening anywhere near the stretch leading to the culvert construction site. The work of widening the road along with a sewage system for Tk 18 crore began before the T-20 World Cup tournament in February. After some impressive initial progress, the work almost stopped once the tournament was over. Mohammad Saiful Islam, who drives a human haulier, said his earnings dropped by 30 percent in the last two months. "Spending Tk 1000 to Tk 2000 almost every day is a regular phenomenon for repairing the vehicle due to the poor condition of the road." It takes around 30 minutes during peak time to go to Purabi from Kalshi, a distance of barely five minutes by a car, Saiful added. Project Director Lt Colonel Saiful Islam said a few more months are required to complete the project. "We have already completed piling of the culvert and the super structure will take three months to be completed and after that it will take two or three days for the carpeting work of the road," he said. Fifty percent work of the drainage system has already been done, he added. Earlier, he had told The Daily Star that the project would end by June. He, however, now justified the delay, saying that there have been significant changes in the components of the project later. The expansion project has been undertaken by Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) to deal with the heavy flow of traffic which increased after the inauguration of Mipur-Airport Road Flyover in March. The project is running under the supervision of Bangladesh Army's 14 Engineering Brigade with the assistance of the DNCC. "Once the project is completed, commuters from Gabtali, Mirpur-1, Technical, Mirpur-13 and 14 will be able to use the road to go to Airport easily which earlier was very difficult for them as they had to go via Farmgate," said a DNCC official.
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