Shariatpur residents struggle to reach Padma Bridge due to decrepit road

The Padma Bridge is serving southern Bangladesh well, but the lack of repairs of a 27-km road is not allowing the residents of Shariatpur to reap the benefits of the massive establishment.

A road linking the Zajira end of the bridge to Shariatpur is ragged, narrow and clogged up with traffic. Travellers complained that it takes them around two and a half hours to go past the stretch.

Md Faruk Ahammed Talukder, president of Shariatpur Road Transport Owners’ Association, said: “Vehicles clog up several times every day at Zajira T&T intersection, Kazirhat Bazar, Degree Bazar, Premtala Bridge, Saheb Bazar and Dainik Bazar.”

The decrepit road is too risky for two vehicles to pass simultaneously.

The traffic is particularly severe across the 3 km stretch from the Naodoba Jamadder intersection to the Zajira toll plaza.

The passengers and transport officials have long demanded that the road be overhauled. Locals from Shariatpur also formed a human chain over the demand in front of the Zajira toll plaza recently.

Some locals of Shariatpur complained that they lost their ancestral lands to the Padma Bridge but were not receiving its benefits.

Authorities greenlighted a project to reconstruct the road. But it is yet to make any headway. The locals blame the Roads and Highways Division for stalling the project.

Bhuiyan Redwanur Rahman, the executive engineer of the division’s Shariatpur branch, confirmed that a reconstruction project was approved several years ago, saying the government plans to build a 27-km four-lane road from Zajira Upazila’s Naodoba to Shariatpur town.

“But contractors have been unable to work in many locations due to land acquisition issues. They are working where there are government lands,” he added.

“The Tk 6.82 billion project is supposed to be completed by June 2024. It will gain pace once the land issues are resolved.”