The Planning Commission (PC) will examine the necessity of maintenance and repair of the newly-built Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway before proceeding for approval of a project taken in this connection, officials said on Monday.
They also said PC has formed a committee, headed by a joint chief of the commission's Infrastructure Division, to scrutinise the proposed project of the Roads and Highways Department (RHD).
In early this year, RHD sought approval of a project from PC for undertaking repair and maintenance work of the newly-constructed Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway at a cost of Tk 9.44 billion.
Just after a year of completing the highway construction, RHD decided to go for its maintenance and repair due to some faults and damages, said the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges officials.
The construction work of the 192-km-long key economic corridor of the country was completed in December 2016, investing Tk 38.17 billion from the government's internal resources.
In the meantime, the highway is getting damaged, as some cracks and other faults are gradually emerging on it due to plying of overloaded trucks and other vehicles, RHD officials said.
So, repair and continuous maintenance are needed for keeping the road operational, they added.
"It is interesting that the highway, constructed about one and half years ago, needs repair and maintenance now. So, PC wants to examine the situation before proceeding with the proposed project," said a senior PC official.
Planning Minister A H M Mostafa Kamal formed the committee to investigate the necessity of the road repair and maintenance project, he further said.
Experts from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) will also be the members of the committee, the official added.
Meanwhile, a senior RHD engineer told the FE that they have decided to take up the project for five years.
Because, there is a possibility of continuous damage of the highway in the future days due to defying the "axel-load" rules and regulations by the overloaded vehicles, he noted.
"We usually conduct maintenance of all the roads across the country after their construction from our revenue budget."
"But this time we have undertaken a development project to conduct the maintenance and repair work of the highway for the next five years," he added.
When asked why the repair and maintenance of the highway becomes necessary just after one and a half years of its inauguration, the RHD engineer said there is possibility of damage due to plying of over-loaded vehicles on it.
"So, we are taking the project to conduct repair and maintenance work for the next five years,"
According to the project proposal, RHD will go for repair and strengthening of the highway at some certain points, surfacing or overlay, wearing course, root-filling, constructing foot-overbridge for pedestrians, setting up median-guard post-berrien-sign-signal in the next five years.
Meanwhile, transport expert and Professor of BUET's Civil Engineering Department Dr. Moazzem Hossain told the FE that RHD should have been more cautious in construction of the country's highest loaded highway.
"There were some scopes of improving the road construction quality. But the authority concerned did not follow it."
Professor Hossain further said: "Usually, lifespan of a road surface is nearly 10-20 years, and it needs 'overlay' after 7-10 years."
"Since it was assumed that the Dhaka-Chittagong highway will have to bear the overload of vehicles, RHD should have used upgraded 'polymer modified bitumen' for its construction. But the organisation used traditional bitumen instead."
"The heavy-duty highways across the world are generally constructed using the upgraded bitumen to check possible damages due to overloading," he added.
