Communication Minister Obaidul Quader on Wednesday termed the construction project of the Gulistan-Jatrabari flyover “an embarrassment.”
“Though it’s not a project under the communication ministry, it’s an embarrassment for all of us, mainly because of the concerned officials refusing to get out of their hibernation,” he said after a meeting held at the ministry’s conference room.
“The people suffered a lot last year because of the snail-paced construction work, and the situation will probably remain the same this year too,” he observed.
The flyover project, which was inaugurated in mid-2010, was billed as the biggest project undertaken under the Public-Private Partnership thus far. However, its proceedings have been an object of criticism from the very beginning.
A significant part of the nine-kilometre flyover remains unfinished. The project has given rise to heavy traffic congestion, muddy and broken walkways and random bus stoppages in the surrounding areas.
Obaidul also highlighted on Ramadan-time preparation of his ministry, saying the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) is going to start operation of 88 new air conditioned buses in the city during the holy month.
Of those, 87 buses have already arrived in the country and are ready for launch. The last remaining bus will be available shortly.
He further said the government had taken up an initiative to import 5,000 new taxicabs, in a bid to address the shortage of public transport vehicles .The tender for the import was already invited, and qualified bidders would get their release orders between July 15-20.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the activities of officials responsible for road repair, the minister said, “The government has taken steps to ensure uninterrupted communication during the rainy season. But maintenance work on damaged roads is not being done properly, thanks to some greedy officials.”
Urging those officials to change their mind-sets, he added, “It’s very painful that I can trust only a handful of officials in this sector. Most of the officials are hiding the real picture of the maintenance work from the ministry.”