A sheer waste of public money

On January 30, 2020, Chattogram City Corporation inaugurated the port city's first escalator footbridge, only to shut down its operations indefinitely after the next couple of months following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Built on Zakir Hossain Road at a cost of Tk 3.9 crore, the footbridge has been inoperative for the last three years.

According to CCC officials, the 65-feet long and nine-feet wide bridge was constructed by them for commoners, especially the Chattogram Diabetic General Hospital patients.

"The footbridge was installed following repeated demands from locals. The road is busy, which makes it risky to cross. However, we could only use it for a few weeks, and now it stands in ruins," said Abdur Rashid, a resident of Wireless area.

Terming the escalators expensive and unfeasible, Prof Jahangir Chowdhury, president of Chattogram Diabetic General Hospital, suggested uninstalling the escalators and replacing them with stairs to keep it operational.

"A development project should be financially, technically, and environmentally feasible. However, this initiative has none of the aforementioned qualities. Such a waste of public money. This venture stands as proof of the mismanagement in city corporation," said Subhash Barua, town planner.

Its significantly high electric consumption makes it financially inviable, said Rafiqul Islam, chief engineer of CCC.

Asked why the planners did not know of the expenses beforehand and how much electricity is required daily for the bridge to run, the engineer failed to provide satisfactory answers. "I do not remember these details as the issue is over three years old."

CCC Mayor Rezaul Karim Chowdhury could not be contacted for comments despite repeated attempts.