Widening marine drive project to boost tourism

The government is going to widen a 32km stretch of the Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf marine drive to ensure safe transportation and expand tourism in the southern coastal town.

The Road Transport and Highways Division has undertaken a project in this regard titled “Widening Roads of Marine Drive from Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf (1.60km to 32km)”.

The project cost is estimated at Tk 1,092.35 crore, which will come from the government exchequer. The Roads and Highways Department will implement the project between July this year and June 2025. The project areas are Cox’s Bazar Sadar, Ramu, and Ukhiya.

As part of the project, a 10.25m wide, two-lane bridge will be constructed on the marine drive and its various defects will be repaired. Besides, 113.25 acres of land will be acquired.

Under the project, 29.42 kilometres pavement will also be widened while 7.24 lakh cubic metre of earth-filing and installation of 608 CCTV cameras in the marine drive are in the cards.

The Engineering Construction Brigade of the Bangladesh Army started constructing the marine drive in 1993. In the fiscal year 2004-05, the authorities decided to implement the project in three phases.

The first phase included building a 24km road from Kalatali to Inani, which was completed in June 2008.

In June 2016, the work on the 24km road from Inani to Shilkhali was finished. The remaining 32km stretch from Shilkhali to Teknaf was completed in June 2018.

But huge traffic congestions occur in the said 32km stretch as it is only 3.7 metres wide, according to the project proposal.

The marine drive is playing a vital role in the local economy, including the tourism and agriculture sectors. But its various defects have been causing traffic jams and accidents since its inauguration.

According to the 8th Five Year plan, the government will upgrade/repair 12,700 kilometres regional and district highways to ease the transportation.

The project is included in the annual development programme (ADP) 2021-22 fiscal year as unapproved.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council has approved the project recently.