Communication Minister Obaidul Quader expressed his dissatisfaction over Sinohydro Corporation’s reluctance to repair the dilapidated portions of the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway yesterday in Chittagong.
“Sinohydro, the firm working on the Four-Lane Dhaka-Chittagong Highway project, is not complying with the contract,” he alleged in the city’s Sarak Bhaban. Addressing an emergency view-exchange meeting to ease traffic congestion on the highway as well as other district and city roads ahead of Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr, he expressed his frustration over the contractor company.
“As per the contract, the company has to repair the dilapidated parts of the highway. But they are unwilling to do it because of the monsoon,” the minister said. The Chinese state-owned hydropower engineering and construction company won the contract for the project in 2010 was supposed to complete expanding around 140km of the highway by December last year.
Regarding the traffic congestion, the minister said a concerted effort was a must to ease the traffic on the highway during the monsoon as well as during Ramadan and before Eid.
He urged all concerned to work sincerely and responsibly. He also called upon the transport owners not to overload their vehicles during Ramadan and to counsel their drivers. A round-the-clock monitoring office, housed at the Roads and Highways Department in Chittagong, would also be open from today.
