PM opens 23 bridges, railway overbridge for traffic

Publish: 4:12 PM, August 14, 2018 | Update: 4:12 PM, August 14, 2018

DHAKA  – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said she is making constant stride to accomplish the tasks which are very crucial to take forward the country.

Speaking at a function at her Gonobhaban residence here this afternoon, the prime minister said her journey was never easy as time and again she had to face death threats.

“But I never went back although I’m living in a great pain of losing all my near and dear ones,” she said in a choked voice on the eve of fateful August 15.

Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh was liberated under the leadership of Bangabandhu. But the defeated force didn’t sit idle. They struck finally on August 15, 1975 on a progressing nation.”

On this day in 1975, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, his wife Begum Fazilatun Nesa Mujib, their three sons and other family members were brutally killed.

“The assailants killed every member of Bangabandhu’s family so that none inheriting his blood can come to power in future and people of Bangladesh never become united under any leadership,” she said.

The function was arranged marking inauguration of 23 bridges constructed at different points of Joydebpur-Chandra-Tangail-Alenga Highway (N-4) as part of South Asia Sub Regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC).

The prime minister, through a videoconference, also inaugurated a railway overpass at Fatepur of Feni district on Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway.

Sheikh Hasina said the bridges would not only ensure socioeconomic development of Bangladesh but also open a new era of regional and sub-regional cooperation, as envisioned by the Father of the Nation.

Minister for Road Transport and Bridges Obaidul Kader and Army Chief General Aziz Ahmed also spoke on the occasion. Secretary of the roads and highways division Nazrul Islam gave a presentation on different aspects of the projects and principal secretary Md. Nojibur Rahman conducted the meeting.

The prime minister said the government, from now on, is constructing all four-lane highways with two additional service roads for mobility of the local transports and people.

These roads would reduce road accidents and local people would be able to keep their mobility uninterrupted, she said adding that underpasses and overpasses are being constructed where such infrastructures are required.

The prime minister hoped that the bridges on Joydebpur-Chandra-Tangail-Alenga Highway would end the sufferings of the commuters on Dhaka-Tangail road and the railway overpass would make easy the journey on Dhaka-Chittagong highway.

The Roads and Highway Division has constructed the 23 bridges on Joydebpur-Chandra-Tangail-Alenga Highway at a cost of Taka 304.14 crore while Bangladesh Army has built the 86.79 meter long railway overpass at Fatepur at a cost of Taka 68.61 crore.

The prime minister reiterated her government’s plans to introduce high speed train between Dhaka and other major cities saying expressways are being constructed in Dhaka for modernization of the capital’s communication system.