Munima Sultana
The government has finally commenced the 25-year concessional period of Dhaka Elevated Expressway (DEE) project more than four years after signing the contract with a foreign company.
Sources said Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) has decided to count the time from April 1 before getting a financial report from the company as per requirements of public-private partnership (PPP) guideline after consulting with its legal advisor in this regard.
Though the Thai company named Italian-Thai Development Public Company got renewal of the time for submitting the financial closure for six more months, sources said, the authorities concerned allowed the time for the commencement.
"As the company is carrying out the construction work of the expressway without informing the authorities concerned about financial closure, there is no use to linger on the commencement of the concessional period by following the PPP guideline," said an official.
He, however, said a provision is there to allow the construction of the expressway without the financial report (closure).
According to the revised concessional agreement signed with the Thai company in December 2013, the 25-year concessional period was supposed to commence from the day of the construction. And construction work was supposed to be completed within 42 months.
The company started the field-level work on limited scale in 2015 after the BBA handed over part of the land from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to Mohakhali to construct the first trench of the 26-kilometre expressway.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader formally inaugurated the work on August 16 the same year.
The BBA, however, could not commence the concessional period due to incompletion of the process of handing over the rest of land to the contractor or concessionaire. It finally completed the work in mid-2017.
BBA acquired 71.23 acres of land to construct the first phase of 7.45-kilometre expressway.
BBA sources said the company already completed 30 per cent of the construction work of the first phase with erecting more than 40 piers out of 200. Piers up to Kuril are now visible.
Project Director Kazi Mohammad Ferdous told the FE that the concessionaire is working on getting Chinese funds for the project.
The authority has planned to construct DEE from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to Shanir Akhra of Dhaka-Chittagong highway with a total length of 46.73 km having five ramps to touch the city. The first phase of the expressway will be constructed from Uttara to Mohakhali.
The Italian-Thai company was awarded the work at Tk 89.90 billion while the government will contribute Tk 24.13 billion as viability gap funding (VGF) for land.
The concessional agreement was first signed on January 19, 2013 but revised in December 2013 due to changes in alignment and design.
However, the project has been facing challenges due to lack of necessary studies and plans and getting loan from different financial agencies.
The expressway will connect the northern and southern parts of capital city Dhaka, linking Shahjalal International Airport with Jatrabari's Kutubkhali area via Mohakhali, Tejgaon, Moghbazar and Kamalapur.
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