Direct road link to Burimari land port snapped for 2 months
Goods transshipped in a tractor across the damaged portion of the approach road to Teesta Barrage.Photo: STAR
Direct road link to Burimari land port is disrupted for about two months as the flood-damaged approach road to Teesta Barrage is yet to be repaired. Transports to and from the land port carrying merchandise now have to detour over 50 kilometers, plying through Lalmonirhat-Kaunia to reach the Dinajpur-Rangpur-Dhaka highway. This raises transport costs. About 610 metres of the approach road near the barrage is badly damaged, with ditches up to six feet deep at several points, Water Development Board (WDB) sources said. Earlier transports could reach the national highway at Paglapir in Rangpur. The approach road, which also serves as 'flood bypass' was damaged in the second wave of flood in September, when Teesta flowed at its all time high since commissioning of the barrage in 1998, WDB sources said. When Teesta river swells threatening the barrage, the excess water is flown out by cutting the 'flood bypass', they said. The barrage may be threatened if the damaged portion near it is not repaired before the next wet season, they said. President of Greater Rangpur Exporters Importers Association Shamsuzzaman Samu said 150-200 loaded trucks use this road carrying export-import goods to and from Burimari. He demanded immediate repair of the damaged portion of the road. Local traders in greater Rangpur also use the approach road. Now they have to unload goods from trucks, carry those in other vehicles and reload those on the other side of the damaged portion of the road. This increases transport costs manifold, traders said. BWDB sources in Dalia said they sent a project proposal involving Tk 49 lakh immediately after the flood for repaid of the approach road, but to no reply yet from higher authorities. In the proposal, they have suggested widening of the approach road considering its commercial importance, they said. WDB executive engineer Atiqur Rhaman, when contacted, said repair work will begin as soon as money is sanctioned. “Perhaps it will not be late”, he added.
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