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Ring road to rescue Ctg city from traffic tailback

ABDULLAH-AL MAHMUD, Ctg
Chittagong is set to have an outer ring road linking Dhaka-Chittagong Trunk Road with Arakan Sarak (Chittagong-Cox's Bazar Highway) bypassing the city centre.
Urban planners, engineers and other experts believe that the Tk 120 crore project, implemented by the Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) in three phases and financed by the government, will not only ease traffic congestion in the city but also help develop new townships with necessary civic amenities.
The ring road will divert all vehicles from Dhaka and other parts of the country bound for the three hill districts--Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban, towards south Chittagong and Cox's Bazar, they said. At present, the entire traffic has
to move via Chittagong city centre, causing severe congestion.
In the first phase, the CDA is constructing the Dhaka-Chittagong Bayezid Bostami Link Road on the northern fringe of the city. The 6-km long and 120-foot wide road will directly connect the Dhaka-Chittagong Trunk Road in the west with the Bayezid Bostami Road in the east, helping transportation of goods as well as passengers to and from the Nasirabad industrial area, north Chittagong and Rangamati and Khagrachhari.
"Seventy-five percent of this link road involving Tk 33 crore is already completed while the construction of the rest, including a bridge over Dhaka-Chittagong rail tracks, is going on," said CDA Chief Engineer Shah Mohammad Akhteruddin.
With most of the roads running
over government khas land, some 22 acres of land had to be acquired for Tk 14 crore for the ring road project.
Having started in late 2003, the CDA expects to complete the construction of the link road within 2006, the CDA official said.
In the second phase of the project, the CDA will build 6 km of an outer ring road, stretching from the city's Oxygen area to Quaish under Hathazari upazila in the district.
Land worth Tk 15 crore has already been acquired for the road while its construction worth Tk 22 crore will start soon, sources said.
The Oxygen-Quaish Road will help heavy vehicles bypass the city and reach Kalurghat industrial area in the city and Kaptai, Raozan and Rangunia in the district, said the CDA officials. In the third phase, a 10-km stretch of the Outer Ring Road will be constructed between Quaish and the city's Bakolia, connecting the Arakan Sarak over the proposed Third Karnaphuli Bridge.
The CDA is preparing the Development Project Performa (DPP) for the construction of the Quaish-Bakolia Road, which is already enlisted in the Annual Development Programme. Officials said the construction might cost Tk 50 crore.