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Experts from Design Planning and Management (DPM) Consultants Limited claimed on Wednesday after inspection that there are no cracks in the pillars of the Bahaddarhat flyover in Chattogram.
The company designed the infrastructure.
Engineer MA Sobhan, managing director of DPM Consultants, said the photos that have spread through social media seemed like cracks are basically construction joints. The place marked as a crack is not a crack, but a joint of a pair of pillars. Even then, whether there are any cracks inside the pillars will be checked using modern equipment.
He said they had inspected various parts of the ramp, including the pillars, reports UNB.
Initially, it seemed that there were no cracks. In this condition, there is no obstacle for light vehicles weighing less than five tonnes to use the flyover. However, heavy vehicles will not be allowed to move, he added.
Meanwhile, after the inspection of the expert team, some people were seen covering the cracked pillars with cement.
The technical expert team of DPM including Managing Director Engineer Abdus Sobhan, Director Engineer Shah Jahan Alam and Senior Structural Engineer Sami Mohammad Reza were present during the inspection.
On Monday, a photo spread on Facebook showing a crack in a pillar on the Arakan Road ramp of the MA Mannan Flyover.
After verifying the authenticity of the post, the police had stopped the traffic on the Arakan road ramp since 10pm on Monday.
On Tuesday morning, the mayor and chief engineer of Chattogram City Corporation also said that the cracks occurred due to construction defects. The mayor also expressed the fear of an accident at any time.
This is not the first time that cracks have been spotted on the flyover. In January 2018, a big crack appeared in one of the ramps linking the flyover.
In November 2012, 14 people were killed when three steel girders of the flyover collapsed during construction work in the Bahaddarhat area. Again on June 29 of that year, a 130-foot-long concrete girder collapsed in Bahaddarhat.
To reduce traffic in the city, the Chattogram Development Authority (CDA) took the initiative to build MA Mannan flyover from the city's toll plaza to Bahaddarhat, an area of one kilometre.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone in January 2010. Later, the Bangladesh Army was entrusted with the responsibility of supervising its construction work. Hasina inaugurated the flyover on 12 October, 2013.