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Kazirbazar Bridge in Sylhet City

Acrimonious politics traps project for eight years

Iqbal Siddiquee, Sylhet
The construction of the much talked-about Kazirbazar Bridge over the Surma river in Sylhet city has remained incomplete even after eight years against the target of two years due to repeated revisions in the project, delay in land acquisition, unavailability of funds, and a lack of coordination among the relevant government agencies.
In the meantime, the cost has increased more than fourfold to Tk 144 crore from Tk 36 crore because of price hikes of the construction materials and land as well as re-fixing of its design.
Residents of the area and civil society members blamed political animosity between the two major parties for the delay in the project, which was supposed to be completed within 2008 by the Roads and Highways Department.
The work of the four-lane bridge on the Kazirbazar-Khozarkhola route was inaugurated by then finance minister M Saifur Rahman during the BNP-led government on February 5, 2006, fixing its length at 366 metres and width at 19 metres.
Around 18 percent of the work was done in eight months until the BNP-led government's tenure ended on October 27, 2006, according to official records. But no major headway was made in the seven years of the military-backed caretaker and immediate past Awami League-led governments, said locals.
"At the beginning, the Awami League government did not give importance to it, fearing that the credit would go to BNP," said Ataur Rahman Pir, principal of Modon Mohon College.
An RHD official, seeking anonymity, said the work had been suspended totally for four years between 2007 and 2011 due to the unavailability of funds. In its five-year tenure since January 25, 2009, what the AL-led government did was re-fixing the bridge's length at391 metres and width at 18.4 metres.
Talking to reporters in Sylhet on May 20, Finance Minister AMA Muhith claimed that the bridge's design had to be changed because it was faulty initially.
Expressing anger over the delay in building the bridge, which is expected to greatly reduce traffic congestion in the city, Anwar Hossain, a businessman at Kazirbazar, said one government was unwilling to execute another's works. "We were trapped in a political game."
Secretary of Sylhet chapter of Sushashoner Janney Nagorik (SHUJAN) Faruque Mahmud Chowdhury said the last AL government could easily complete the work. The delay was only for political reasons, he told The Daily Star.
The project was first revised in 2010 with an allocation of Tk 98 crore, said Iftekhar Ahmed, additional chief engineer of RHD (Sylhet Zone). Another revision came in 2012, raising the cost to Tk 144 crore, he added. He, however, denied the locals' allegations of negligence by RHD officials.
When asked about the procrastination, he said much time was spent on the land acquisition process, including negotiations with private owners, for building the approach roads.
The land on the two ends of the bridge belonged to individuals and different government organisations, including the education ministry, police department, railway, and the city corporation. Due to a lack of coordination, the land acquisition from the government departments took unusually long time, said another RHD official.
Acknowledging the delay, RHD officials said the work had been going on in full swing since March, and it would be completed by December this year. About 75 percent of the work has been completed so far, said Abu Ehtesham Rashed, executive engineer of RHD (Sylhet Division).
SHUJAN's Faruque Chowdhury, however, is sceptic about the prospect. As the work is going on at a snail's pace, it may not be completed even by December, he said.