Useless Bridge: 2 years on, still no approach roads

A bridge constructed over the Rongopaldi River under Galachipa upazila two years ago remains unused due to lack of any approach roads to the bridge.

The authority concerned didn't build an approach to the bridge – which was to connect the two upazilas Galachipa and Dashmina of the district - due to a conflict over acquisition of land and the situation has remained the same since then.

Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) built the 245 meters long and 7.30 meters wide bridge at a cost of Tk 24.50 crore.

LGED issued a work order to a construction firm named 'Mahfuj Khan' in January in 2014 and local lawmaker AKM Jahangir Hossain set the foundation stone of the bridge on March 25. The construction ended in due time on July 21 in 2015.

However, the approach road on both sides of the bridge, 232 meters from Galachipa upazila and 477 meters from Dashmina upazila, was not built.

This correspondent during a recent visit to the area found a man climbing onto the bridge with a ladder in order to cross the river.

Md Mojibur Rahman, president of Ulania bazaar businessmen association said, there sits two big business spots on both sides of the bridge, in the west at Ulania bazaar and in the east the Rongapaldi bazaar which are unusable to traders directly as this bridge cannot be used.

Golam Mostafa Tito, secretary for Galachipa upazila Awami League, said road communication would be easier between the two upazilas as well as with Patuakhali district headquarter once the bridge is made open to the public.

Md Jahangir Alam, Dashmina upazila engineer for LGED, said construction work of the main bridge was completed on time but the approach could not be built as a conflict rose over land acquisition as there are 15 public houses situated on that land.

When contacted Abu Saleh Md Hanif, executive engineer for LGED, said the conflict over land acquisition will be over soon and construction of approach roads on both sides be completed soon.

He expressed hope that the  bridge would be opened within a month or two.