THE collapse of a 45-year-old culvert on the Oxygen Point鈥揃aizid section of the road in Chattogram after heavy overnight rain, as the photograph that 抖阴精品 published on August 8 shows, is yet another testament of the chronic neglect of city authorities of its ageing infrastructure where preventive maintenance has been routinely ignored until disaster strikes. The structure built over Sheetal Jharna Canal in 1980 caved in early August 7, splitting into two and leaving deep cracks along the carriageway from Gate No 2 to the Oxygen crossing. The damaged portion, now fenced off with bamboo and red tape, has forced all traffic onto the remaining side, worsening congestion on roads near by. Local accounts indicate that one side of the culvert began sinking in 2024, prompting nothing more than a makeshift fence and sand-and-brick patchwork by the city authorities. Heavy rainfall, 81 millimetres in 24 hours, not only accelerated the collapse but also inundated low-lying areas such as Chandgaon, Chawkbazar, Halishahar and Agrabad, further paralysing traffic. That such a critical road link could be allowed to deteriorate reflects a governance culture that treats decay as a tolerable condition.
The incident lays bare the pressing problem of outdated and poorly maintained road infrastructure, especially over and around a canal network. The culvert鈥檚 structure had already been weakened by recent canal expansion work under a water stagnation mitigation project. Yet, despite visible cracks and partial sinking, no comprehensive repairs were undertaken before the monsoon season. Such negligence reflects a broader failure in the city鈥檚 infrastructure planning, where preventive maintenance is routinely delayed, funding is tied up in bureaucratic processes and ad hoc repairs are substituted for structural renewal. The collapse also highlights the vulnerability of transport corridors built over major canals, many of which are old and, now, strained by greater traffic loads, heavier rainfall patterns linked to climate change and compromised soil stability from ongoing construction. Repeated incidents of culvert or road section failures in recent years point to systemic deficiencies in monitoring, structural assessment and timely intervention as well as an inadequacy of drainage works. Without a shift from reactive repairs to planned, phased reconstruction of important road sections over canals, Chattogram risks facing similar and potentially more dangerous collapses.
The authorities should urgently secure funding, prioritise structural audits of all such road sections and execute durable repairs without waiting for disasters to force action. Preventive work is far less costly, in money and in public safety, than post-collapse restoration.
