Stressing the importance of maintaining the roads network, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked authorities to not allow overloaded vehicles on the highways.
She gave the directive while inaugurated two highways, a road and a bridge through videoconferencing from Gonobhobon, reports UNB.
The projects include a 16km road upgraded to a four-lane highway in Rangpur city; 10.5km Birulia-Ashulia highway and the Birulia Bridge; and the Thanchi-Alikadam road in Bandarban built at a height of about 3,500 feet.
She said steps had been taken to upgrade other highways, including the Dhaka-Mymensingh, to four-lane.
While talking to the deputy commissioner of Bandarban, the PM thanked the Bangladesh Army for their sincere efforts in building the Thanchi-Alikadam Highway in one of the remotest parts of the country.
Speaking to the Rangpur DC office, the PM said that Rangpur had long been neglected but her government had upgraded it into a Divisional headquarter and implemented various development programmes to ensure socio-economic uplift of the poverty and Monga-affected people.
The Roads and Highways Department implemented the Rangpur Divisional City Road upgradation at a cost of Tk126.58 crore and the Birulia-Ashulia road and Brulia Bridge construction projects at a cost of about Tk50 crore. The Engineering Department of the Bangladesh Army implemented 33km-18ft Thanchi-Alikadam road at a cost of Tk117.54 crore.
State Minister for Chittagong Hill Tracts Bir Bahadur Ushaising joined the videoconferencing from Bandarban, State Minister for LGRD Mashiur Rahman Ranga and Mayor of Rangpur City Corporation Sharfuddin Ahmed Jhantu from Rangpur. Members of Parliament Ilias Uddin Mollah and M Enamur Rahman joined the videoconferencing from Dhaka Divisional Commissioner’s office.
Sheikh Hasina yesterday also inaugurated a newly built state-of-the-art passenger ship, MV Madhumati, and two ferries of the Bangladesh Inlad Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC), also through video conferencing from her residence.
“If they [BNP-Jamaat alliance] had not burned the buses, destroyed railway compartments and damaged the railway tracks, people might have been able to go to their homes more conveniently,” she said.
The new 75.5m by 12.5m MV Madhumati is capable of accommodating 750 passengers, and has been built at a cost of Tk26.58 crore by the Western Marine Shipyard.
Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan and lawmaker Kazi Firoz Rahid also spoke on the occasion by joining the videoconferencing at the Sadarghat launch terminal in Dhaka.