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The construction work of the Cumilla-Noakhali 59km four-lane highway is yet to be completed. Only 70 per cent of the work has progressed in 5 years and 25 km of road is visible.
The work is halted mainly because the land acquisition of Bagmara Bazar, Laksam Bazar and Uttardah School area has not been done.
The work of this government mega project started in 2018. The scheduled time for the completion of this project was June 2022 with a total cost of Tk 2,030 crore and 63 lakh.
The project has been extended by one year to June 2023 due to land acquisition complications. However, the total cost was not increased.
Roads and Highways Department (RHD) officials claim that with the completion of the 59km long four-lane road, the sufferings of millions of people will be reduced.
Besides, the distance on the Noakhali-Cumilla-Dhaka route will be reduced by at least 50 km. This will save 2 to 3 hours of travel time on this route.
According to RHD, the 59 km regional highway from Tomson bridge area of Cumilla city to Begamganj of Noakhali is being upgraded to four lanes. Here, 45km of work is being supervised by Cumilla RHD and the remaining 14 km by Noakhali RHD.
Md Shafiqul Islam Bhuiyan, sub-divisional engineer of RHD, said, “The land acquisition process of Daulatganj Bazar Bypass of Laksam upazila and Bagmara Bazar Bypass of Lalmai upazila has not been completed yet. It has slowed down the construction work.”
He said, “A total of 25km of highway including 10km in Lalmai area and 15km in Laksam area of the project has been completed. Without this road, one has to travel at least 50km from Noakhali and Laksmipur to Dhaka via Feni and Cumilla. After the completion of this project, the distance on the Noakhali-Comilla-Dhaka road will be reduced by at least 50km. This will save 2 to 3 hours for people and vehicles traveling on this route.”
According to RHD sources, due to various complications, the work will not be completed within the specified time.
Thousands of people traveling on this route are suffering due to the slowness of the construction work. There are traffic jams every day. Accidents are occurring due to the bad condition of the road. Educational institutions, shops and houses alongside the road are covered in dust.
According to sources, a tender for an area of about 17km from Lalmai in Cumilla to Laksam was floated in November 2019, a year after the project started. Other packages were also tendered periodically. Due to various complications including land acquisition, this road will be first launched in Laksam Bypass area with two lanes. Later, a separate project will be undertaken for the other two lanes.
