Repairs fail within days on Rangpur-Dinajpur Highway

Sections of the Rangpur-Dinajpur Highway repaired only days ago are being repaired again after the newly laid cement blocks crumbled, bitumen peeled off and potholes reappeared, triggering anger among local residents and drivers.

The affected sections were hastily repaired ahead of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s visit to Rangpur on October 20. But the repairs did not last even a week in some places, prompting the Roads and Highways Department to undertake repair work on the same sections again.

The repeated repairs have raised questions about the quality of the work, supervision and the use of public money.

Local residents and drivers, who earlier expressed doubts about the durability of the rushed repairs, said the condition of the road has proved their concerns right within days.

The Roads and Highways Department, however, blamed the deterioration on overloaded vehicles and the poor foundation of the road, reports UNB.

The problem was visible along at least two kilometres of the roughly 10-kilometre stretch from Paglapir to Medical Mor on the highway.

More than 100 damaged sections of the highway were repaired ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit. Workers removed old brick pavements from the damaged sections, installed new cement blocks and applied bitumen over them.