Necessity of Ctg city flyovers in question

Town planners have long been raising questions over the necessity of the additional flyovers in Chittagong city and emphasising improving traffic management and transport services to ease the sufferings of the commuters.

Despite the criticism by the Forum for Planned Chittagong (FPC) regarding the "effectiveness" of the constructed flyovers, constructions are still ongoing.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the port city's first flyover on March 28, 2012. Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) built it spending Tk 82 crore.

Later, Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) constructed two more flyovers, the Bahaddarhat MA Mannan Flyover and the Kadamtoli Flyover, spending a total of about Tk 202.18 crore.  

Moreover, the construction work of a 5.2km flyover from Muradpur to Lalkhan Bazar is also underway. The estimated cost of the project is Tk 462.30 crore.

CDA is also going to construct an about Tk 3,000 crore Elevated Expressway from Lalkhan Bazar to Shah Amanat International Airport.

But on various occasions, leaders of the FPC, a platform comprising architects, urban planners and professionals, made their observations that construction of flyovers in Chittagong city would be a waste of a huge amount of money.

They claimed that the already constructed flyovers have proved to be useless as very few vehicles are using those. And the under-construction flyovers too would not improve the transport system, but rather will create a mess, they said.

Visiting Bahaddarhat MA Mannan Flyover on March 19, it was seen that about 378 vehicles, most of which were CNG-run auto-rickshaws and private cars, plied the flyover from 1:15pm to 2:15pm. And from 5:46pm to 6:46pm, about 598 vehicles, mostly CNG-run auto-rickshaws and private cars, plied Kadamtoli flyover.

However, hundreds of vehicles were seen to ply through the adjacent roads of the flyovers at the same time.

"As there are no scopes of taking passengers or letting them get off, buses and human-haulers do not want to take the flyovers," commented Golam Rasul Babul, member secretary of Chittagong City Sarak Paribahan Malik Federation.

Shah-e-Alam Hawlader, president of Chhattagram Human Hauler Sramik Union, echoed Babul.

"If any vehicle gets on at the Bahaddharhat flyover from one end, then it has to get down through the other. So, most of the vehicles ply through the roads, avoiding it," commented Nurul Afsar, a resident of Chandgaon area.

The condition of the Kadamtoli Flyover is also the same, he further said.   

Architect Zarina Hossain, general secretary of FPC, claimed that as the flyovers were not constructed in a "planned way", fewer vehicles use those.

Terming the construction of flyovers "unplanned and unnecessary", town planner Subhas Barua said these flyovers will bring no effective results in mitigating traffic congestion and emphasised proper and planned traffic management and full utilisation of the existing road networks.

"Instead, we are just constructing flyovers one after another, which will be of no use in solving the congestion problem," he noted.

Contacted, CDA Chairman Abdus Salam called the allegations were "baseless".

He claimed that due to the constructions of the flyovers people were being benefited. "Trade and commerce would be increased greatly in the coming days. Without infrastructural developments, the city would collapse," the CDA chairman noted.   

"As an advance preparation, the infrastructural developments are being done," he further said.

Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) is also going to construct two more flyovers to mitigate the traffic congestion.

About 800 metres long New Market Flyover would be constructed at an estimated cost of Tk 36 crore, said CCC, adding that another 1.5km flyover would be constructed from Sagorika to Alangkar. It will cost about Tk 150 crore.

Rafiqul Islam, superintending engineer of CCC and also the project director, said the construction works were supposed to start in the coming financial year. Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) will finance both of the flyovers, he added.

Town planner Prof Engr M Ali Ashraf, however, said construction of flyovers is not the only way of solving the near constant gridlock. Construction of roads may be the one of the alternatives of flyovers, he added.

Ashraf, also the chairman of Bangladesh Institute of Planners, Chittagong chapter, put emphasis on proper traffic management to get rid of many problems including traffic congestion.