Delwar Majumdar, former president of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB), Chattogram Centre, told Prothom Alo that pedestrian foot over-bridges are necessary in the city, but they should be built at places with heavy foot traffic.
He said the location chosen for the escalator foot over-bridge on Zakir Hussain Road is inappropriate as there is relatively less pedestrian traffic there. Furthermore, there are no barriers or road dividers to discourage people from crossing the road directly, so pedestrians continue to take risks.
Delwar Majumdar said that the escalator foot over bridge requires proper maintenance and safety inspection, but the municipal corporation has failed to provide anything like that. Since the bridge was built at the wrong location, neither pedestrians nor local residents showed much interest in using it. As a result, despite spending 40 million taka on its construction, the city residents did not get any benefits.
“However, someone must have definitely benefited from the construction of this bridge,” he said. “By implementing such projects without considering public needs, taxpayers’ hard-earned money has been wasted. In the end, there has been no real benefit.”