Govt revives elevated expressway project

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A Z M Anas
The caretaker government has revived the plan to erect a two-storied elevated expressway in Dhaka on the basis of BOT (build-operate-and transfer) to lessen the capital's perennial traffic congestion, a top official said.
"We'll send the proposal of the elevated expressway to the Board of Investment by September to scrutinise it," communications secretary Mahbubur Rahman told the FE Sunday.
Rahman said an international tender would also be floated shortly to woo the potential investor for the project, the cost of which is estimated at US$ 321 million.
He added that if the communications ministry found the findings of a feasibility study on the proposed project "favourable", it would step up its efforts to attract the private sector to construct the elevated expressway.
A source at the communications ministry said the communications ministry has assigned the Italian-Thai Development Company Limited to carry out the feasibility study and submit it to the government.
"The company will share the major highlights of its study with the ministry officials on September 10. Then the ministry will decide its subsequent course of action," the source added.
The source at the communications ministry said an expert team of Italian-Thai is scheduled to arrive in the city on September 08 to hold talks with officials of the government agencies and local financial institutions.
The communications secretary acknowledged that the proposed project has remained in limbo for several years.
Although he preferred to keep mum about the politico-bureaucratic tangle, Rahman attributed the delay to the Thai government's indecision of financing the project.
Earlier, the Thai Exim Bank agreed to extend 60 percent in loan while Thai and Bangladesh governments was suppose to equally share the residual 40 percent of total cost of the project.
Officials say the elevated expressway will provide a "breathing space" for the city dwellers who have continued to suffer from Dhaka's perennial traffic jam.
With an estimated 12 million people, Dhaka is considered one of the fastest-growing mega cities in the world, but it has only 220 kilometres roads.
According to the original project proposal, the 20-kilometre-long expressway, to be built in two phases, was supposed to take six years to complete.
The first phase, around 13 kilometres of expressway with a four-lane viaduct over the existing roads, will be constructed at a cost of around $203 million.
In the first phase, the revised route will extend from Kemal Ataturk Avenue to Second Buriganga Bridge via Mohakhali flyover to the Sonargaon crossing to New Market via Katabon-Phulbaria-Gulistan (Golpashah Majar), according to a project concept paper submitted to the planning commission.
On the other hand, the expressway will have exit points at Golapshah Mazar, Nilkhet, New Market and the Sonargaon crossing.
The first phase of the project is scheduled to be completed in three-years from the beginning of construction, said a Roads and Highway official.
The official added the second phase of the elevated expressway, the cost of which is estimated at $118 million, will stretch from Kemal Ataturk Avenue (Banani) to Pragati Sarani. It can take another three years to complete construction of the second phase.
At least 30,000 vehicles will be able to pass through the expressway an hour, thereby reducing the number of vehicles on the roads, according to the project proposal.
The estimated toll revenue from the elevated expressway is Tk 300 million a year.
The idea of erecting the elevated expressway first came up at the official parley between Dhaka and Thailand during the then Thai premier's visit to Bangladesh in 2002.
Since then, two taskforces have worked out on the alignment and investment for the project and several rounds of official and technical level meetings have been held.
Later, the Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited had carried out a pre-feasibility study on the proposed overpass and submitted its report in December 2002.