2024-08-31 20:09:31
Allegations have been raised against the SteelArch Bridge link road project of changing the design to favor two housing companies even after the project was approved.
Saturday (August 31) on behalf of the affected residents. Mosharraf Hossain made this complaint in a press conference organized by Dhaka Reporters Unity.
In his written statement, he said, the district administration is going to ensure the looting of billions of rupees by completing the land acquisition process in haste, leaving the design plan of the connection road of the Kewatkhali bridge construction project of Mymensingh at a cost of 3 thousand 263 crore 14 lakh rupees, leaving the agreement with the local victims unresolved. A concentric circle.
It was alleged in the press conference that Mymensingh Housing and Brahmaputra Housing have started the land acquisition process by changing the design of the approved project to benefit these two institutions. This attempt is being made mainly to give benefits to the people involved in the politics of the previous Awami League government. On the one hand, the distance between the connecting roads and bridges is increasing, on the other hand, efforts are being made to build roads on privately owned land instead of government land.
Mymensingh Roads and Public Ways Directorate has taken up the Kewatkhali bridge construction project on the Brahmaputra River modeled on Australia’s Sydney Harbor Bridge. An initiative was taken to build this bridge in Mymensingh to establish safe, improved and cost-effective communication between the capital Dhaka and the northern districts.
Meanwhile, the road department has executed the contract between the joint contracting company China State Construction Engineering Corporation and Specta Engineers of Bangladesh for the project work. It has been decided to acquire 33.2 hectares of land under this new technology steel arch (bow) bridge construction project in the country. Basically, there have been allegations of faulty design of the construction of the bridge project by twisting the connecting roads through densely populated areas due to the excessive spending of money in this acquisition sector.
It was informed in the press conference that experienced engineers said that the connecting road of the bridge starts from the bypass junction of Mymensingh highway and reaches Kewatkhali and is connected to the western end of the bridge. But the connecting road at the eastern end of the bridge moves slightly towards the northeast and turns back towards the west crossing two railway overpasses in the form of flyovers and reaches the toll plaza and again moves towards the north towards China Junction. But even there the connecting road is divided into two RAMs without connecting. A bifurcated ram is shown crossing the four-lane highway running eastwards by a hundred meter overpass and joining the main road in front of Jogra School in a rainbow shape on the north side. Another ram joins the main road on the south side of the four-lane highway opposite Jogra School. But if the flyover is taken directly without turning back, at least 1000 meters of connecting road would have been reduced. In this case, the construction cost would be reduced by 1000 crores, and also there would be no need to acquire land in densely populated areas. Because, if the connecting road was taken directly, there was mostly government private land. As a result, only one third of the cost in the land acquisition sector was also commented by the concerned engineers.
It was informed in the press conference, on behalf of the local consumers and on his own initiative. Mosharraf Hossain directly informed the former Prime Minister, Mymensingh Deputy Commissioner and Secretary, Roads and Highways Department and almost all senior officials related to the Kewatkhali Bridge construction project in writing. But no cure has been found yet.
The victims have alleged that the circuitous road has been taken through densely populated areas and hundreds of mills, factories and commercial establishments due to faulty design. Looting activities based on land acquisition have started around this issue. Along with changing the land class, some low-lying agricultural land is being converted into houses, tin slum-like houses are being recorded as large-scale factories. The misdeeds of planning to set the price of crores of rupees to assets of lakhs of rupees are going on openly. Due to these reasons, a huge amount of money is being wasted in the Kewatkhali Bridge construction project, on the other hand there is a fear that the project will fail to ensure the desired public welfare.
Md. Musharraf Hossain said that the whole district is concerned and worried about the overall issue. At the same time, the people of Mymensingh have requested the intervention of the current interim government for the speedy implementation of the project by uprooting all the roots of corruption through re-investigation and taking timely and appropriate initiatives regarding the infrastructure of this project.