Construction work underway with electricity poles in the middle of the road

To prevent accidents and reduce traffic congestion, the government has started work to upgrade a 900-meter road to four lanes in Chunati Jangalia, one of the accident-prone areas of the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar highway. Although the construction work of the four-lane road has begun, new concerns have arisen at the beginning. Although the road is being widened in this project worth about Tk 30 crore, about 10 electricity poles and a huge billboard of a sewage treatment plant are still standing in the middle of the widened section.
As the road construction work has started before the poles and billboards have been removed, local residents, transport related people and road safety workers are raising questions about the plan and safety of the project. It was seen on the spot that work is underway to upgrade a 900-meter section of Chunati Jangalia area to four lanes. There are plans to build a 52-foot-wide road with a 4-foot divider in the middle. However, in various places of the expansion section, electricity poles are standing in such a way that some of them are almost falling in the middle of the future road. This is not only hindering the construction work, but also creating the possibility of major accidents in the future.
Locals complain that the project work has been started in a hurry without coordinating the removal of poles. This has also raised doubts about the sustainable implementation of this crore-taka project. There is widespread criticism on social media about the issue. Many are calling it ‘unplanned development’.
According to sources from the Chittagong South Roads Department, the road expansion work in the Satkania and Lohagara sections of the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar highway is being implemented in three packages. Of this, the cost of the 8.4-kilometer road development from the beginning of Satkania Road in Lohagara to Rajghata has been estimated at Tk 350 crore. The cost of the 7-kilometer section from Rajghata to Chunati Mithar Shop has been estimated at Tk 340 crore. And the cost of the four-lane project from Mithar Shop to Jangalia has been estimated at Tk 300 crore.
According to locals, the Jangalia section has long been known as the ‘death pit’ of the highway. According to the highway police, at least 74 people have lost their lives in about fifty accidents of all kinds in this area in the last one year. Sohag Mia, a member of the Lohagara Upazila branch of the Safe Roads Association (NISCHA), said that installing poles in the middle of the road and making it four lanes will create new risks where accidents regularly occur. It is necessary to first remove the poles and ensure safe infrastructure.
Transport representative Minhazur Rahman Parvez said that these poles will pose a big risk to drivers at night or during rain. A minor mistake can cause a terrible accident. Therefore, it was important to remove the poles before the road is renovated, he said.
When asked about this, Pintu Chakma, executive engineer of the Chittagong South Roads Division, said that a letter has been sent to the concerned department to remove all the electricity poles on both sides of the road. They are demanding more money to remove the poles, so the money has not been deposited. He could not give a good answer to the question about the hasty repair of the road without removing the poles and without any plan.
Rafiqul Islam Khan, DGM of Lohagara Palli Bidyut Samity, said that the poles could not be removed because the road department had sent a letter and the money for removing the poles had not been deposited yet. He said that necessary measures would be taken to remove the poles after the money is deposited.