BANGLADESH

A day after the Khilgaon flyover was closed following a partial subsidence, experts said it is not risky and all types of vehicles can ply. "There is no structural fault in the flyover," a nine-expert team told a press conference Saturday afternoon in the capital's Nagar Bhaban after a preliminary investigation.
The subsidence might have taken place due to the lack of constructional engineering experience, the team added.
It also opined that the fault might be there since its construction.
Earlier around 1:00pm, the authorities allowed light vehicles to ply the country's largest flyover nearly 18 hours after the closure.
It was closed around 7:00pm on Friday after a part of the six-year-old structure slightly sank displacing three shuttering plates.
A team comprising experts from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), Local Government and Engineering Department (LGED), Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) and the Army Engineering Corps inspected the fault.
The experts are: Three professors of civil engineering department at Buet Dr Abdul Jabbar Khan, Dr Munaz Ahmed Noor and Dr Moazzem Hossain, and Superintendent Engineer of circle-1 of the DCC Md Abul Hasnat, Chief Engineer Brig Gen Abul Hossain of the DCC, Superintendent Engineer of LGED (Retd) Md Haider Ali, former senior technical adviser of LGED ASM Abdul Hamid, Superintendent Engineer of LGED, Syed Mahbubur Rahman, and Senior Instructor of Military Institute of Science and Technology Col Shahidul Islam.
Locals said traffic congestions created on the nearby roads due to the closure, causing suffering to people.
DCC Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka will hold a press conference at 3:00pm to give detailed development of the incident.
Visiting the spot Friday night, Syed Mahbubur Rahman, superintendent engineer of the LGED, said concretes plates on the surface at the junction of the flyover subsided by a couple of centimetres at three places.
The authorities concerned formed the expert committee at that night to find out why it sank and what can be done to fix it.
Mukta Dhar, assistant commissioner (traffic) of Sabujbagh Police Station, said they first got information around 7:00pm that there was something wrong with the flyover.
The 1.9km long and 14-metre wide flyover was designed by local engineers and they supervised and monitored its construction.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, the then prime minister, in her flyover inauguration speech lauded the efficiency and skill of the LGED engineers and hoped they would contribute more through similar projects.
Visiting the spot at the night, DCC Chief Engineer Brig Gen Abul Hossain said the sinking could be blamed on many things including plying of overloaded vehicles, soil condition, and vibration caused by trains that run under the structure.
After visiting the spot, chief technical adviser of the flyover Eng Abdul Hamid said it is a minor problem. Initiative to repair the structure will be made on Saturday after scrutinising the information gathered and discussion with officials concerned.
Following the discovery of the sinking, panic gripped the people living around the flyover. They gathered near the structure in hundreds wishing to know if the situation would deteriorate.
The flyover was opened to traffic on March 23, 2005. It was seen as a relief by people living in Rajarbagh, Malibagh, Shahjahanpur, Khilgaon, Goran, Bashabo and Sabujbagh of the capital as it reduced congestion and was a safer way to cross the Khilgaon Level Crossing. source: The Daily Star