A route along the existing Dhaka-Chittagong highway has been selected for constructing the expressway under the public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement to enhance the road capacity in the country's main economic corridor.
Officials said the around 217km long route would be constructed as an at-grade expressway at some points and as an elevated expressway elsewhere 'almost' along the existing corridor through Daudkandi, Comilla and Feni.
The steering committee on the Dhaka-Chittagong Expressway Project has already given its nod to the route after reviewing three options placed by an Australia-based consultancy firm.
"Dhaka-Chittagong expressway through Daudkandi, Comilla and Feni will hardly need any land acquisition as the 300-foot wide land almost along the existing highway is owned by the government," said an official involved with the expressway project.
He said a stretch of land only 100-foot wide, out of the 300 feet, was used for the four-lane highway now under construction.
The official, however, said confirmation of the route would come in another meeting to be held at the Prime Minister's Office soon.
The government appointed SMEC International Pvt Ltd for conducting the study in 2014 to find the best option for construction of the Dhaka-Chittagong expressway under the PPP.
It was initially proposed to construct the expressway on an elevated way but probable multiple increase in costs led the government to consider
its construction in a mixed way.
Sources said construction of an elevated expressway through the corridor would cost US$ 8.4 billion (840 crore) while the figure would be only $ 3.2 billion if it is constructed as an at-grade expressway.
The government first took the initiative to construct the Dhaka-Chittagong expressway in 2009 on the PPP basis to ease traffic congestion on the corridor and boost trade within and outside the country.
The initiative was taken considering the growing rush of traffic through the corridor, the lifeline of the country's economy. It will be linked with the Asian highway and other regional corridor including the BCIM (Bangladesh-China-India- Myanmar).
However, the first initiative went in vain after the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) got no response from any firm to the bidding. The tender was invited in 2012 based on a study conducted in 2007.
Later the government decided to review the routes through a fresh feasibility study with technical assistance from the Asian Development Bank and appointed the Australia-based consortium for the job.
The project official said the route selected then was likely to have a good number of overpasses, underpasses and elevated roads along the corridor to detour rural roads, railway line and built-up areas. But the latest route now will have only five access points at Dhaka, Madanpur, Comilla, Feni and Chittagong.
The expressway has been designed to enable all kinds of transports to cross the corridor uninterruptedly at a speed of 100km per hour with a limited scope to get into or get out of it.
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