Repair of damaged city roads to begin soon, says Mayor Khoka
Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) will soon start repairing the city's rain-damaged roads and lanes, says DCC Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka.
“Many roads and lanes of the city have been damaged by rains and the city corporation is going to start the repair work as soon as the monsoon eases.
“I am hopeful of completing the repair works before the Eid-ul-Fitr,” he told the news agency over phone on Sunday.
Sources at the DCC said the city corporation spends more than Tk 1 billion a year on maintenance of the city's roads, lanes and by-lanes.
DCC allocated Tk 1 billion from the government fund and Tk 200 million from its own fund for the current fiscal (2011-12) for the maintenance, says the latest budget text.
During recent visits, this correspondent found many roads like Kuril Biswa Road, roads in Sayedabad and Shantinagar areas, Mirpur road and Shahid Selina Pervin road unsuitable for traffic movement as they have not been repaired for a long time.
City commuters alleged that they can hardly notice any development of the city's 350-kilometre roads, lanes and by-lanes despite the huge amount of money being spent every year.
“The roads get damaged in a short period of time as low quality materials are used in repair works. I avoid certain city roads because of their shabby condition,” said Badrul Alam, a motorcyclist.
Abdur Rahman, a bus driver, said many city roads developed numerous potholes, causing inconvenience in traffic movement and sometimes causing accidents.
“It's very difficult to drive buses on these damaged roads. We have to be extra careful to avoid road accidents,” he said.
Public suffering is a common phenomenon during the rainy season in the city. Waterlogging and potholes pose a serious threat to the city's almost 15 million dwellers.
Abul Hossain, a rickshaw-puller, said he recently met an accident in Shantinagar area as could not see a pothole beforehand due to waterlogging.
The mayor in his budget speech on July 12 recognised that the city dwellers have to face untold sufferings as roads are dug during the monsoon by the utility service providers like Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority.
He said DCC requested these organisations not to dig roads during the monsoon to minimise public suffering.
Khoka said although 62 percent of the total vehicles of the country ply the city, the government's allocation for road maintenance is very much inadequate and urged the government to provide more allocations for DCC.
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