Experts’ no to at-grade 6-lane Dhaka-Ctg expressway

May 03, 2018 00:00:00

The government is moving ahead with a plan to build a 218-km at-grade six-lane expressway alongside the existing Dhaka-Chattogram national highway despite local people's serious concern over the relocation of thousands of houses, educational institutions and other establishments, reports UNB.

Officials at the Road Transport and Bridges Ministry said the Finance Ministry at a recent meeting decided to implement the nearly Tk 200.00- billion expressway project under Public Private Partnership (PPP) with the supervision of Roads and Highways Department (RHD).

Transport system expert Prof Shamsul Hoque of Buet's civil engineering department, urban expert and former chairman of University Grants Commission (UGC) Prof Nazrul Islam and Prof Sarwar Jahan of Buet's Urban and Regional Planning (URP) department said the at-grade (through land) expressway is not feasible for the country for many reasons, including land shortage and overpopulation.

Besides, they said, huge money will have to be spent only on land acquisition and relocation of various establishments such as houses, educational institutions, markets and mosques to construct the at-grade expressway.

They think the government should either build an elevated expressway with a multimodal transport corridor over the existing Dhaka-Chattogram highway or increase the lanes of the current highway or improve the railway route as an economic corridor shelving its plan for constructing the at-grade expressway.

Talking to UNB, Ruhul Amin, RHD project director, said they are taking all-out preparations to build the expressway from Kanchpur, a key entry point to the capital, to near the City Gate of the port city of Chattogram by 2024.

RHD project manager Shishir Kanti Routh said they will float a tender for the implementation of the project after having the Finance Ministry's approval.

He said the lion share of the Tk 200 billion will be spent on acquiring 798 hectares of land and relocating houses, markets other establishments like schools and mosques.