A busy Barisal road on the banks of the Kirtankhola River in the old port area of the city, which is fringed with fish wholesalers, fishmongers’ stalls and a variety of open air groceries, has become so dilapidated that residents of the area and people associated with trade in the vicinity of the road consider it a danger to public safety.
The president of the Barisal Matsya Aratdar Samity, a local fish wholesalers’ organisation, Ajit Kumar Das, said it was no longer a road, but a large ditch filled with mud and water.
The nearly 1.5 kilometres of road stretching along the Kirtankhola River in the Barisal old port area, which serves as the nexus for the river city’s extensive fisheries trade, falls under the authority of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA).
The BIWTA had ignored several appeals to repair the road, said the head of the fish wholesalers group.
A visit by this Dhaka Tribune correspondent to the area revealed that the road was badly potholed, and some parts of it were entirely inundated with water that had not drained away, obscuring potholes and jagged holes beneath the water line.
An executive engineer of the BIWTA, AZM Shahnewaz, acknowledged the severe damage to the road and said the 1300-metre long road under the Barisal River Port area was last repaired in April 2009.
The joint secretary of Barisal Matsya Aratdar Samity, Nirob Hossain, said 150-160 trucks daily used the road to serve businesses related to fishing, the port, ice factories, and wholesale businesses in the nearby Hatkhola and Bazar Road areas.
Since the fishing business involved much use of ice and water, the road was originally constructed with reinforced concrete and stone chips instead of bitumen and bricks, Nirob said. However, during the last repair several years ago, substandard materials were used and the condition of the road had become unsafe for vehicular traffic, he said.
He added that the road was not safe for pedestrians either. Rickshaw pullers and truck drivers in the area complained of wheels getting bent out of shape, shredded tires and other damage to their vehicles on the road. Area businessmen said at least two vehicles a day had to be helped after getting mired in the deep, muddy potholes.
The BIWTA executive engineer said the road could not be closed to carry out repairs because so many people used the road daily.
He refused to comment about the alleged use of substandard materials in previous repairs to the road, saying instead that a tender for repair work had been called and a work order would be given after the rainy season had passed and Eid vacations were over.