Two bridges in Gaibandha not operational even 2 years after completion of construction

To reduce the suffering of the public including traffic congestion, the Roads and Townships Department constructed two 166-meter bridges on two roads in Gaibandha district town. But even after almost 2 years of completion of the construction work, the locals are not getting the benefits of the two bridges. Due to the lack of connecting roads, the two wide bridges have been lying for a long time and thousands of vehicles are taking risks every day on the narrow and old damaged bridge next to it. This has angered the locals. It is known that the Roads and Townships Department...

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To reduce the suffering of the public including traffic congestion, the Roads and Townships Department constructed two 166-meter bridges on two roads in Gaibandha district town. But even after almost 2 years of completion of the construction work, the locals are not getting the benefits of the two bridges. Due to the lack of connecting roads, the two wide bridges have been lying for a long time and thousands of vehicles are taking risks every day on the narrow and old damaged bridge next to it. This has angered the locals.

It is known that the Roads and Townships Department constructed a new bridge named Ghaghat-2, about 76 meters long, in the 2022-23 financial year next to the old bridge over the Ghaghat River in the new bridge area on the busiest Gaibandha-Sundarganj road, the entrance to Gaibandha district town. The construction of the bridge began on December 6, 2022 and was completed in June 2024.

The construction of the approximately 90-meter Alai Bridge began on November 2, 2022, to alleviate traffic congestion and to relieve the old narrow bridge in the Pulbandi area of ​​the Gaibandha-Balashighat road, another entrance to the district town. It was completed in June 2024.

Although the construction of the two bridges has been completed after almost 2 years of work, the two bridges cannot be used due to the lack of connecting roads. Vehicles are plying over the old bridges at both entrances to the district town. Although the work on these bridges has been completed for a long time, people traveling on these roads have expressed their anger over the lack of benefits.

Mithun Mia, a resident of the New Bridge area, said that although the work on the two bridges has been completed for a long time, they are not being used. The two bridges have become a den for drug dealers at night.

Shahriar Robin, a resident of Pulbandi area, said that the government is not getting any benefit from building bridges by spending crores of taka. The bridges are being destroyed due to abandonment, and people are suffering on the narrow bridges.

When asked, Gaibandha Roads and Townships Department Executive Engineer Piyas Kumar Sen said that efforts are being made to open the bridges after the construction work is completed. However, it is not possible due to the complexity of land acquisition for the connecting road. Efforts are being made to complete all the work including land acquisition as soon as possible.

The District Roads and Townships Department constructed these two bridges, each about 166 meters long, at a cost of about 300 million rupees under the project to replace existing Bailey and other risky bridges at dilapidated, narrow and important points.