Design woes stall Barguna’s Sonakata Canal Bridge Project

Bridge - representational image

By Mostafa Kader 

Barguna, June 15 - The construction of a vital bridge over the Sonakata Canal in Taltoli upazila of Barguna has remained in limbo for four years, leaving locals, forest officials and tourists grappling with continued hardship.

Authorities cite 'design complexities' as the primary reason for the prolonged delay, while residents point to administrative inefficiency and a lack of will to complete the project.

A visit to the site revealed that only two 48-metre girders have been constructed—one on each bank of the canal.

The central 24-metre span, along with the approach roads, remains untouched, a stark sign of the incomplete state of the project.

When completed, the 72-metre RCC girder bridge is expected to play a crucial role in providing all-season access to Tengragiri Ecopark, located in Fakirhat under Taltoli upazila.

The eco-park, home to the country’s second-largest mangrove forest, once welcomed 400–500 visitors daily during the dry season, according to the Forest Department.

With the bridge incomplete, tourist numbers have dropped significantly, causing a loss of revenue for the government and harming local livelihoods.

For over two decades, residents of the area have depended on a makeshift bamboo bridge to cross the Sonakata canal, facing daily risks and inconvenience.

The promise of a permanent solution came in the 2020–21 fiscal year when the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), under the Rural Bridge Rehabilitation Project (RBRP), initiated the bridge construction with an estimated budget of Tk 6.97 crore.

The project contract was awarded in January 2020 to Barishal-based M/S Builders & M/S Amir Engineering Corporation.

Although the work was initially scheduled to begin on 20 February that year, it commenced later in 2020 and quickly stalled after partial progress.

The project had a completion deadline of 20 February 2021.

Officials at the Taltoli Upazila Engineering Office indicated that the project faced interruptions due to objections raised by local residents regarding the design.

Residents, on the other hand, accused the contractor and officials of using the design concerns as a pretext for the delay, claiming that repeated appeals to resume construction were ignored.

Farazi Md Yunus, chairman of the local union parishad, questioned the reasoning behind the long halt. “No heavy vessels operate in the canal and there is no logical reason to suspend construction,” he said.

He urged the authorities to ensure swift completion of the long-awaited project.

Attempts to reach the contractors for comment were unsuccessful, with no one willing to speak on the issue.

Md Sakhawat Hossain, the Upazila Engineer of Taltoli, reiterated that the work had stalled due to local objections and design-related issues.

Md Mehedi Hasan, Executive Engineer of LGED in Barguna, maintained that the existing design is sufficient for the bridge to be completed.

“The matter has been reported to the Chief Engineer’s Office. Construction will resume once we receive the necessary clearance,” he said.

As the delay drags on, the people of Taltoli continue to suffer the consequences of a project caught in bureaucratic stagnation and technical indecision. - UNB