Bhanga-Barisal four-lane project may reach ECNEC within three months, says planning state minister

The Bhanga-Barisal four-lane road project may be approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) within the next three months, State Minister for Planning Md Jonaid Abdur Rahim Saki has said. His announcement has revived strong expectations of a major change in road communications across the southern region.

The state minister made the remarks while speaking to journalists on Friday (23 October) at around noon, after joining a two-day tourism carnival at the hall of a residential hotel in Kuakata, Patuakhali. It was at this tourism event that the question of the region's transport infrastructure came to the fore.

Jonaid Saki said that if the project is approved at ECNEC, road communications for the entire southern region, including Kuakata, will change. Although the Kuakata beach is one of the country's leading tourist destinations, the limitations of its road links have long been a complaint of travellers and local people alike.

Not only the Bhanga-Barisal section: there is also a plan to turn the Barisal-Kuakata road into four lanes, the state minister said. If both sections are implemented, journeys from the capital to the southern coast are expected to become much easier and faster.

The state minister said the present government is undertaking all its activities on the basis of a masterplan. In his words, this planning-based approach will reduce the long delays that afflict projects. He indicated that the aim of the policy is to break with the experience of projects hanging fire for years on end.

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister M Rashiduzzaman Millat was present at the event. With the tourism sector's policymaker in attendance as the road project was announced, those concerned see a message of coordinated development of the two sectors.

Also present were ABM Mosharraf Hossain, the member of parliament for Patuakhali-4, and senior officials of the Barisal and Patuakhali district administrations. The presence of the local public representative and top administration officials underlines the importance of the project.

The demand for a four-lane road is not new for the people of the south. The route from Bhanga through Barisal to Kuakata is the main artery of the region's economy, tourism and daily travel. Modernising it would affect life across the whole coastal belt.

The state minister named the next three months as the timeframe, meaning the project is expected to reach the ECNEC table within that period. ECNEC approval would open the formal path to implementation.

All eyes will now be on the coming three months — whether the project really does reach ECNEC within the promised time and, if approved, how quickly implementation work begins will be the real test for the people of the southern region.