Airport Road’s 2 U-loops built spending Tk 3cr two years ago, demolished for BRT work

• DNCC was aware that structures would get in way of bus rapid transit
• U-loops were built by demolishing service roads and narrowing footpaths
• The structures eased severe traffic jam, according to officials
• After constructing BRT, flyover, similar U-loops will be built

The U-loops on Dhaka’s Airport Road might be a perfect example of how public money is spent on arbitrary projects.

Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) constructed two U-loops over two years ago — spending Tk 3 crore — despite knowing that they would be demolished just years later to construct bus rapid transit (BRT).

Recently, the structures, one in front of Rajlakshmi Shopping Complex and the other near Jashimuddin Road in Uttara, were torn down, as BRT’s construction started on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway.

The U-loops, opened for public in June 2019, were built under a Tk 24.83-crore project taken up in 2016 for building 11 U-loops, to ease the city’s nagging traffic congestion. These structures allow vehicles to take turns without obstructing traffic flow.

The project was revised later, and the total cost shot up to Tk 31.81 crore.

Transport expert Prof Shamsul Hoque said DNCC was well aware that the structures would get in the way of BRT, and they would have to be demolished eventually. And yet, authorities went for it. Just two years after construction, the U-loops were demolished.

“It was a blunder, and they did it believing that they would not have to take responsibility for the mess. There should be accountability. Public money is not a plaything,” he said.

Shamsul, professor at Buet’s civil engineering department, further said DNCC built the U-loops by demolishing service roads and narrowing footpaths. “The government should hold the DNCC mayor and others involved in the project accountable for spending public money in such a way.”

The government took up the country’s first bus rapid transit project (BRT-3) in 2012, to ease traffic congestion on Dhaka-Gazipur highway.

DNCC’s Khandoker Mahbub Alam, project director of the U-loops, admitted that when the U-loop project was undertaken, it was mentioned that the ones in Uttara would be demolished when works for big projects like BRT and flyover start.

Asked why they were constructed then, he said to ease severe traffic jams. For the last couple of years, the area was largely traffic-jam free, because of the structures, and people praised the move, he said.

After construction of BRT and flyover, similar U-loops will be constructed in between the gaps of the flyover’s pillars, he added.

Visiting Uttara recently, this correspondent found the U-loop near Jashimuddin Road completely demolished, while a major part of the other one was torn down.

Md Sujan Ahmed, employee of a private company in Uttara, said as footpaths were narrowed down and roads were removed, pedestrians and commuters face problems.

Mahatab Uddin, a traffic police officer who was on duty at Uttara, however, said the U-loops did indeed ease traffic congestion.

Meanwhile, commuters have been facing difficulties while travelling from Gazipur to Abdullahpur, ever since BRT’s work began in 2018.

Md Munibur Rahman, additional commissioner (traffic) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said the U-loops that were built on narrow roads have created bottle-necks, and so traffic jams at certain points are seen.

Those built on wide-road space and the flyover U-loops at Badda proved to be fruitful in easing traffic congestion, he added.