Work begins over one year after approval

Construction work of Oxygen-Hathazari Road is going on in full swing. The picture was taken from Baluchara.Photo: STAR

It took one and a half years to start the construction work for expansion of Oxygen-Hathazari road after government approval of the project.
The much awaited expansion of Oxygen-Hathazari road began two weeks ago.
Roads and Highways Department (RHD) is implementing the Tk 129 crore project titled 'Widening (with divider) of Oxygen-Hathazari section of Chittagong-Rangamati Highway'.
Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved the project on May 5 in 2009 and fixed the time to complete it between July, 2009 and December, 2013.
Initially RHD got allocation of Tk 18 crore for the first phase of the project.
Due to some problems in land acquisition for lack of co-ordination between the land ministry and RHD and non-cooperation from the land owners, the RHD Chittagong had to launch the expansion work initially stretching from Baluchara to Chowdhury Hat of the 12km road.
RHD Executive Engineer Swapan Kumer Nath said though the land acquisition is usually a complex job they are trying to solve the issue. “Now we are doing the expansion work from Chowdhuryhat to Baluchara initially,” he said, hoping that the expansion work in other areas will start soon.
Explaining the road expansion, he told The Daily Star that after expansion, width of the road will be 25.85 metres including 0 .65 metre divider while at present the road at some points is only three metres to four metres.
“We will develop the road into four lanes.
In the project it will also have 12 feet at one side of the road for slow moving vehicles to pass on,” he said.
“This is one of the busiest roads in Chittagong division and the number of vehicles is increasing day by day. To avoid traffic jam, the work will be done in different phases” he added.
Transports bound for different destinations, including Rangamati and Khagrachhari and Raozan, Hathazari, Najirhat upazilas as well as Chittagong University from the city, use Oxygen-Hathazari road.
Commuters while travelling to these destinations are facing intolerable sufferings everyday due to acute traffic jam since the Oxygen-Hathazari road is narrow.
At many points of this road, like Chowdhury Hat, Borodighirpar and Fateyabad, shopkeepers built their shops close to the road, leaving no space for running vehicles worsening the gridlock.
Travellers as well as local residents demanded of the government to solve the problem as early as possible.
Zobaer Hossain, a final year student of Accounting Department of Chittagong University, said he faces huge gridlock on the road everyday when he goes to the university.
He said he would reach his destination earlier if the road is expanded.
Ibrahim Hossain, a villager of Hathazari, said with implementation of road expansion the business activities at the adjoining areas would boost.
The commuters urged the authorities concerned to complete the expansion work as early as possible to make their journey hassle-free.