The 80-kilometre road from Cox's Bazar to Teknaf, known as Marine Drive, the longest of its kind in the world, has been experiencing breakages due to rough weather.
Lined with the world's longest sea beach on one side and mountains enveloped in greenery on the other, this scenic route is now under threat.
The sea's waves have started to cause breakages in this road with severe damage at 10 places, and if repairs are not made promptly, communication through this road could be cut off.
The most affected by erosion is the Marine Drive from Baharchhara Ghat in Sabrang Union of Teknaf to the crematorium adjacent to Hadurchhara BGB Camp.
In 2 hours from 10am to 12pm on Friday, more than one and a half hundred metres were broken in the vicinity of West Munder Dale in the area. On Thursday, a 60-metre road was broken in that area.
A special unit of the Bangladesh Army's engineering core is trying to protect it with geobags.
Erosion has also occurred in at least 15 spots around Baharchhara, Hadur Rham, South Mundar Dale area. Hundreds of bushes were also uprooted in those areas.
Some locals said that many people have bought land on the east side of the road. They are freely taking sand from the beach beside the road to fill the land they bought. Apart from this, the risk has increased as the geobags installed to protect the road have also started bursting.
UP Member of Sabrang Union Parishad No1 Ward Md Salim said that two thousand local families are at risk due to erosion.
"If not prevented soon, Sabrang Tourism Park Economic Zone in Teknaf will be disconnected from Marine Drive. At the same time, there will be extensive damages to houses, land and business establishments in the village east of the road," he added.
Teknaf upazila executive officer (UNO) Kamruzzaman said, "Due to the effect of the full moon, the height of the tidal water has increased more than normal. Erosion has occurred in various parts of Sabrang Baharchhara Ghat Munder Dale, Hadurchhra and West Munder Dale areas of Marine Drive. The engineering corps of the Bangladesh Army is working to prevent erosion."
According to the Roads and Highways Department (RHD), the construction of Marine Drive began in 1993.
By 2015, almost 24 kilometres of road had been built, from Kolatoli in Cox's Bazar to Inani Beach in Ukhiya upazila.
In mid-2016, another 24 kilometres of road were built from Inani to Teknaf's Shilkhali, and in 2017 32 kilometres were constructed from Shilkhali to Teknaf's Sabrang.
The total cost of constructing the entire road was around Tk1,040 crore.
Even though the Road Transport and Highways Division (RTHD) is responsible for the maintenance of Marine Drive, the engineering corps of the army supervised and maintained the construction of the road.
