At least 22 government primary schools in six districts will be affected due to the widening of the Dhaka-Sylhet Expressway, a project implemented by the Roads and Highways Department (RHD).

Project officials continued their discussions with local authorities throughout the past year about moving the schools to continue the project work.

However, nothing materialized, resulting in a delay in the implementation of the Tk 16,918.59 crore project.

RHD officials said this is not the only RHD project to face problems in acquiring land from government agencies, on top of pre-existing problems with private lands.

Amid this situation, the Road Transport and Highways Department today convened an inter-ministerial meeting to resolve land acquisition issues faced by six RHD projects.

Sources said representatives from different ministries and departments, including the ministries of railways, agriculture, energy and finance, were present at the meeting, chaired by the department’s senior secretary Ehsanul Hoque.

However, they said that there was no representative from the Ministry of Primary and Non-formal Education or the Primary Education Directorate.

“The meeting was productive and we hope the complexities will end soon,” RHD Chief Engineer Syed Moinul Hasan told The Daily Star after the meeting. he said.

In February 2021, Ecnec approved the Tk 16,918.59 crore project to convert the Dhaka-Sylhet Expressway into a four-lane highway with service lanes on both sides.

Project officials hired contractors for the job but faced problems as they had not yet purchased most of the land, project officials said.

At least 22 primary schools will be affected by the expansion works. A project document states that five of these will be slightly affected, meaning the boundary wall or playground will be affected, but educational activities will not be affected.

However, it was stated that the classrooms of 17 other schools would also be affected and therefore the school buildings had to be moved.

“We have been meeting with the upazila primary education officers and district primary education officers of these districts for more than a year, but to no avail,” said a project official.

Meeting sources said that since there was no representative at today’s meeting, it was decided to hold another meeting with the officials of the Ministry of Primary and Non-formal Education and the Primary Education Directorate.

The project also faced problems in purchasing land from Power Grid Company Ltd in Narsingdi and Sreehatto Economic Zone. Meeting sources also said that all parties agreed to resolve the issue.

Another project facing land-related issues is the SASEC-2 Road Link Project, where the 190 km road from Tangail’s Elenga to Rangpur will be converted into a four-lane highway with service roads.

The project has issues in acquiring land from the Bangladesh Institute of Applied Nutrition Research and Training in Rangpur’s Pirganj Upazila.

The other four projects facing similar problems are the Itakhola-Mathkola-Kadiati road widening project; Nayapara-Araihazar-Narsingdi-Raypura road widening project; Kumargao-Badhaghat-Bimanbandar road expansion project; and Ashuganj River Port-Sarail-Dharkhar-Akhaura Land Port road expansion project.