A road in Rajshahi city has been revamped with arrangements of specialized streetlights for the night-time and colourful sunflowers for the daytime, drawing warm appreciation from city dwellers and travellers alike.
Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) recently upgraded the 4.2km road from Bilsimla to Kasiadanga crossing to four lanes—widening the previously 30ft road to 80ft at a cost of Tk52.75 crore.
City Mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton told Dhaka Tribune that 174 “eye-catching” streetlight poles were installed on the road with 348 “butterfly-like” LED bulbs.
Besides, varieties of ornamental flower plants including sunflower were planted on the divider of the road to enhance its beautify to a greater extent, he added.
“We have constructed a 10ft wide footpath on both sides of the road and another 8ft wide bicycle lane on the south side,” said Mayor Liton.
Listing various other development projects Liton said, a 6.793-kilometer east-west four-lane connecting road has been constructed along with a 202.5-metre flyover with a 120-metre ramp at Budhpara Railway crossing recently at a cost of Tk189.34 crore. Some 32,446 trees were planted besides creating scores of green zones through councillors, officers and employees of the city corporation.
Tree plantation activities on vacant places, road dividers and footpaths are being conducted in the current year. 6,000 flower and other ornamental and decorative tree saplings were already planted till August last year, he added.
Now, road dividers on around 24km roads in the city were “greenified”. Varieties of decorative and beautification trees were planted on the dividers and footpaths of the city’s main roads.
Padma riverbank adjacent to the Shaheb Bazar area of the divisional town has turned into an attractive tourist and recreational spot as the city corporation implemented a beautification project there.
Under the project amusement spots, open stage, gallery, park, bridge, walkway and other need-based infrastructures were constructed at a cost of around Tk42.2 million. Mayor Liton said the new infrastructure and facilities are encouraging an increased number of people to pass their leisure with families and friends enjoying the beauty of the Padma.
Borokuthi river bank and Lalon Shah River Resort were also decorated with a new look to attract more visitors and facilitate the cultural organisations to arrange various programmes to attract the visitors.
The city corporation is going to have a new look to the Sonadighi, a traditional pond in Rajshahi city, as it has been implementing a gigantic scheme to this end as soon as possible.
Mayor Liton added that Rajshahi City Corporation has planned to reclaim around 12sqkm of char land of the Padma River for developing a satellite town adjacent to the city protection embankment.
As the river’s main flow turned towards its right bank, the satellite town might be built on the left bank. Liton said the part of the river near the left bank, where floodwater remains for less than a month every year, would be turned into a huge lake.
The lake would stand between the satellite town and the city protection embankment and there would be a bridge to the newly developed city, he added. “Rajshahi would be beautiful if we can properly execute the plan,” the mayor said, adding that “the city’s accommodation problems will be eased as well.
“Rajshahi will be transformed into a more cleaned, green, attractive, planned, developed and habitable city and efforts are being progressed to this end,” he added.
