Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road: A smoother journey but at the cost of green coverage

Mehdi Hasan of Fatullah grew up in an area right next to the Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road and he remembers the trips to and from Dhaka vividly.

"In 2005-06, when I was in school, I remember going to Dhaka with my parents using the Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road. The road was lined with trees, mostly raintrees, on both sides. Looking up, I would try to find the sun between the leaves of the trees," Mehdi Hasan, a resident of Fatullah area of Narayanganj, recalled.

"Now, 18 years later, I still use the same highway. But there is not a single tree left. There is no shade," he said.

Now working in a software company, Mehedi said on hot days when he gets on the Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road, he reminisces about the old times.

So, how much has the road changed? According to Mehedi, the road was upgraded to six lanes from one. In the past 16 years, renovation has been in two phases.

The road widening, which has mitigated the pressure of traffic to a great extent, has pushed the once glorious trees to be confined to memories only.

At the same time, Narayanganj has not been spared from the current heatwave sweeping across the country, with temperatures hitting 35°C by midday.

Amid this, an old photo of the 8.15km Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road went viral on social media. The photo taken 16 years ago showed what Mehdi had described: tree covered roads with shade for days.

As Narayanganj loses more trees to development projects, have any alternative measures been taken?

Speaking to The Business Standard, Shahana Ferdous, executive engineer of the Roads and Highways Department, said, "About 22,000 different species of trees have been planted on the median of the Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road under a project. The trees were chosen by the local member of parliament. We are taking care of the trees through a contractor. The plants are regularly watered and instructions for taking care have been given."

In this regard, the Narayanganj leader of the Bangladesh Environment Movement (Bapa), Tariq Babu, also pointed to the photo which had gone viral on social media.

"The big trees on both sides covered the road like an umbrella. There was natural beauty at that time. But in 2009, the trees were cut for the work to upgrade the road from single to double lane.

"Afterwards, trees were planted again but they were not the same as before. Few trees were left on the whole road. The old beauty never came back," he said.

In 2021, he said the remaining trees were also cut down to convert the two-lane road into six.

From that point, the entire stretch of the 8km road became treeless.

In Tariq's estimation, thousands of trees had been cut in these two rounds of renovation. At the end of the project, some trees were planted on the median strip, but those have begun to wilt.

He said big trees should be planted there, which can become a habitat for different bird, spider and insect species.

Work for the Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road started in the early 1990s.

The road was inaugurated in 1997 as an alternative to Postagola-Pagla-Panchabati road. Different species of trees were planted on both sides of the road.

Journalist Imtiaz Ahmed, who rode a motorcycle on the road in his youth, said the shaded road gave a feel of going through a forest.

"Now, it feels like going through a desert. I remember standing in the shade of the trees and chatting with friends. I also know that Roads and Highways officials were very aware of the trees. For each one cut, five more would be planted. But I don't see that awareness anymore," he said.

The transformation of the road, while necessary, came at a price.

Modelled after the Dhaka-Mawa expressway, the road has four high-speed traffic lanes and two-service lanes. Overpasses have also been installed.

Before the road came into operation, residents would have to sit through traffic. But now, a more than 30-minute trip from Chashara to Sign Board has been cut down to 10 minutes.

The price for the commute time has been the greenery.

According to environmentalists, if long-term planning was adopted in road construction, the trees would have lived longer.