The river Buriganga is flowing by the southern side of the Dhaka city The expan sion of the city on its north ern side is taking place with out any natural obstruction. But due to the presence of the river Buriganga. expan sion towards sought of the Dhaka city could not take place. Due tolack of proper communication system, places like Zinjira Kerani ganj situated at the opposite imd of the river Buriganga could not be developed properly. Daily about half a million of people used to cross the river Buriganga by boats from the surrounding areas for their daily business in Dhaka city. A considerable amount of time was wasted in this way and sometimes these people faced accidents. The road sub-sector is becoming increasingly important in Bangladesh. To overcome the constraints, government have adopted a policy to build up bridges on important river gaps of the national, regional highways and thana roads.

A new horizon in communication infrastructure of the country opened with the completion of the Bangladesh-China Friendship bridge over Buriganga In February. 1989. The length of the bridge is 847.32 metre. The total construction cost came to Tk 108 crore, out a which Tk 58 crore was provided by China and the balance of Tk 50 crore was borne by the Bangladesh government. The bridge was a long-felt necessity for both extending the Dhaka city on the other side of the river Buriganga and for Improving the road link with th? southern part of the country.

A total of 149 Chinese experts worked in the project from the Chinese side and 22 engineers from the Roads and Highways Department of the Bangladesh government were directly associated with the construction of the bridge. It has contributed to the opening up of the Dhaka-Khulna highway which has so far been completed up to Bhanga with a couple of bridges on some

road gaps still left unfinished The bridge has also been ex ercislng a considerable Im pact on the development of the areas adfoining the high way such as Sreenagar Zin Jlra. KeraniganJ. Nawabganj. and Dohar The potentialities of the bridge in the development of the areas served by the new highway are yet to be fully realised. Yet the Impor tance of the first bridge over Buriganga cannot be overemphasised.

With a view to reaping greater benefits from com munication with the southern side of the Buriganga river, construction of a second Buriganga bridge at Babuba zar. has been undertaken The second bridge will be 304-metre long. Late pres ident Ziaur Rahman laid the foundation stone of the bridge at the location In 1981.

The main objective of ' the project is to provide better road communication for the people living in the other side of the river Buriganga The proposed bridge will establish an easy link between Dhaka city and Zinjira and KeraniganJ. The Zinjira end approach of this bridge will be linked with the Dhaka-Mowa Road and Zinjira Keraniganj-Dohar road The development work at the other end of the river will be accelerated and transporta-tiop cost of agricultural products from these areas to the city will be reduced. Temporary employment opportunity will be created for the poorest section of the society. As a result, socio-economic condition of the areas will be developed. The project is expected to the completed by 1996-97.

Some observers are of the opinion that a third bridge over Buriganga may be necessary in the near future at the point Katasur in Dhaka city to establish proper links with proposed new satellite townships to be set up on the other side. When the proposed new townships come into being, about 15 lakh people will be benefited, according to them.

As a result of the bridge projects, vast areas of land on the other aide of the river Buriganga will come under urban jurisdiction with the added benefits resulting from the opening of a new horizon in improved road communications This may be constd ered as a great helpful factor, if it plays some part in relieving the growing congestion of dwellers in the city proper To achieve this objective. It behoves the authorities concerned with the development of those areas to take due care in the proper utilisation of those areas with appropriate planning, so that the shortcomings and drawbacks experienced In the planned growth of the Dhaka city proper are avoided in future in the expanded new areas

There may be some other dark aspects of the new horizon resulting from the erection of the bridges A major part of the areas on the other side of the Buriganga river are low lying ones so long used for production of agricultural crops. On account of the inevitable process of urbanisation spreading to these areas due to their easy accessibility from Dhaka proper made possible by these bridges, there are apprehensions that these low-lying areas now under agricultural production are most likely to be adversely affected leading to decreased agricultural output.

There may be another potentially ominous consequence. To make these low-lying areas fit for use as habitats for people by raising their level, a large amount of investment is required. To avoid this implication, some land owners in these areas may be tempted to erect makeshift structures, paving the way for the large-scale growth of slums attracting the poor sections of people. The authorities concerned need be vigilant against these harmful eventualities so that they do not cast a dark shadow on the healthy growth of urbanisation in these new areas.