Rajshahi city has become green, beautiful, and illuminated amid massive infrastructural developments fully supported by the government during the last couple of years.
Broaden streets, eye-catching street lighting at night, a clean atmosphere, road dividers with green trees, plants and crafts as well as improved civic amenities have made the city attractive enormously.
Mayor of Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) AHM Khairuzzaman Liton told BSS that an east-west connecting road has been constructed from Biman crossing to Choddopaya crossing via Chhotobangram, Meherchandi, Budhpara and Mohanpur at a cost of around Tk 189.35 crore.
In addition to the construction of sidewalks on both sides of the 6.793-kilometre road, various need-based modern infrastructures, including an overpass on a railway crossing, a bridge, eight culverts and a median, were constructed.
The newly constructed four-lane road has been playing a significant role towards mitigating the gradually mounting traffic jams in the metropolis.
Mayor Liton said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has deployed a project worth around Tk 3,000 crore and its implementation works are progressing fast in the city for its cherished development.
Two potential roads are being elevated to four lanes as part of the Tk 2,993 crore project aimed at making the movement of both vehicles and people quick and smooth.
RCC is turning the Bilsimla Railway crossing to City Hat road to 80 feet wide along with a four-foot-wide road divider with an outlay of around Tk 44.92 crore.
On both sides of the 3.532-kilometre road, a 44-feet road, a 12-feet wide drain and footpath and a 20-feet road for slow-moving vehicles are also being constructed.
Another dilapidated 4.17-kilometre road from Naodapara bus terminal to Bhodra Railway crossing is being elevated to a smart street.
Liton said a 2.5-kilometre road from Alupatty crossing to Talaimary crossing has been elevated to four-lane. Decorated and pedestrian-friendly footpaths have been constructed on both sides of the road setting up colourful road lights.
The medians between those roads have been beautified by transplanting decorative and ornamental flower plants.
Two midtown roads from Upashahar to Sonadighi crossing and Malopara crossing to Sagarpara crossing have been widened, costing around Tk 126.40 crore bringing an epoch-making change in terms of the city's communication.
Another road from Bilsimla railway crossing to Kasiadanga crossing has been elevated to four-lane under the city's important roads development project. Side by side the four-lane, drain, footpath and bicycle lane were constructed along the road.
The erection of butterfly road lights draws the attention of the passerby at night amazingly.
The city corporation has so far installed 1,654 decorated and eye-catching lights on 695 poles in five separate roads and streets with lengths of around 21 kilometres.
As a whole, modern road lighting has brought happiness to city dwellers and other beneficiaries.
Mayor Liton said the energy-saving lights at Drishtinandan are being turned on and off automatically by the auto-logic controller, adding that they also have plans for bringing the newly constructed and other widened roads under the modern lighting system in the days to come.
53.29-kilometre roads were also concretized together with the construction of 36.72-kilometre drains. Carpeting on the 4.32-kilometre new road and renovation of the 1.42-kilometre road was done.
The city corporation has implemented drainage and approach road construction projects contributing a lot towards freeing the city from water logging besides making pedestrian movement easy.
Problems related to unfit and narrow sections of the present drains and their low-sewerage capacity were removed. All the culverts were widened besides removing the silts from the base of the drains to enhance the sewerage capacity.
Chief Engineer Nur Islam said the physical infrastructure development was implemented for developing the overall environmental health system through building an effective and permanent water sewerage system in the city.
Professor Bidhan Chandra Das, a retired teacher at Rajshahi University, expressed his gratitude to the government, particularly Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, for extending support towards making the Rajshahi city beautiful.
