Road Repaired for Prime Minister's Rangpur Visit Crumbles Within a Week, Repairs Begin Again

Not even seven days have passed since the repairs. Already the pitch has lifted from the road, the newly laid cement blocks have broken and crumbled, potholes have opened in places and the surface lies torn up elsewhere. Yet only about a week ago, those same stretches had been hastily repaired for the prime minister's visit to Rangpur. Now repair work is under way again on the very same sections.

The scene is visible across roughly two kilometres of the approximately 10-kilometre stretch of the Rangpur-Dinajpur highway from Paglapir to Medical Mor.

Ahead of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's Rangpur visit on 20 October to inspect the Sharodiya Durga Puja, more than a hundred broken sections of the highway were repaired over the preceding four days. Old brick soling was lifted, new cement blocks were laid in its place and a coating of pitch was applied on top.

Local residents, drivers and pedestrians had doubted the durability of that hurried work at the time. Within days, their fears have proved justified.

A visit to the site on Saturday found the newly laid blocks broken in several repaired sections. In places the pitch coating has come off and potholes have formed as before. Repair work is going on again at those spots, so the same sections of the same road are being repaired repeatedly within a short span of time.

That has raised questions about the quality of the work and its supervision. Alongside questions from local residents, pedestrians and drivers about the road's durability, allegations of waste of public money have also been raised.

Nazmul Haque, a resident of the Sio Bazar area, said roads here are repaired only to break again, so that repair work continues all year and officials and contractors earn well. Otherwise, he said, holes are closed ten times a month, yet within two days they open again.

Rakib Islam, a businessman at Hajipara Mor, said the brick soling on this part of the road was lifted and cement blocks were laid just seven days ago. The blocks have broken and crumbled because of poor-quality work, he said, and now they are being fixed again. He said he does not understand why a permanent, durable repair is not done.

Abdur Rashid, a bus driver who regularly uses the road, said substandard work will inevitably mean repeated damage. The condition of the road from Paglapir to Medical Mor is very bad, he said, accidents happen on this stretch, and the road work needs to be done properly.

Complaints about the quality of repair work on this highway have been raised before. According to Roads and Highways Department information, in the 2024-25 fiscal year the repair of 17 kilometres of the Rangpur-Saidpur highway was awarded to Rajshahi's Don Enterprise for 268,959,946 taka. From February to July that year, 10 kilometres were repaired using the DBST method, but questions about quality arose even then.

It is alleged that a patrolling army team detected the use of five kilograms less stone per square metre of road than specified. Around 365 tonnes less stone was allegedly used as a result.

This latest episode has brought the cycle of repeated repairs on the same road to the fore once more. Local people demand that instead of hurried, visit-centred repairs, a permanent and durable repair be ensured so public money is not spent again and again on the same work. What remains to be seen is how durable the renewed repairs prove to be, and how the authorities concerned answer the questions raised about quality.