The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has mobilised private-sector capital of US$ 261 million for building the Rampura-Amulia-Demra Expressway under a public- private partnership (PPP) project.
The 13.5-kilometer expressway is expected to facilitate speedy connectivity between Dhaka and the cities of eastern and southeastern districts.
The ADB, as a transaction advisor of the PPP project, assisted in project structuring, negotiation, tender execution, and provided support for commercial awarding and financial closure, said a statement issued on Thursday.
The project is being funded through a $193 million senior-loan from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Bank of China, DBS Bank Limited, and Infrastructure Development Company Limited, a nonbanking financial institution in Bangladesh.
The remaining $68 million is provided by the sponsors as equity contributions.
"We worked with the public authorities in Bangladesh to prepare, market, and attract private sector partners to design, build, finance, operate and maintain this expressway," said Cleo Kawawaki, Head of ADB Office of Markets Development and PPP.
The project was delivered under an availability payment mechanism with partial revenue linked to US Dollar and Taka exchange rate movements, she said, adding that the first road transaction, the $370 million Dhaka Bypass Road PPP, was structured as a minimum revenue guarantee.
ADB has therefore helped establish the pathway for both types of payment mechanisms in Bangladesh for future private sector investments in the infrastructure sector, she said.
The deal - part of a programmatic approach taken by ADB to develop road PPPs as an asset class for investments - is the second successful financial closure of a PPP transaction with ADB as transaction advisor in Bangladesh.
ADB is currently advising the government on the Joydebpur-Mymensingh Expressway PPP project which will improve connectivity to 10 special economic zones.
The Rampura-Amulia-Demra Expressway will be designed, constructed, financed, operated, and maintained during a 25 year concession period by a consortium comprising China Communications Construction Company Limited and China Road and Bridge Corporation.
The Roads and Highways Department and the consortium signed the concessionaire agreement on January 9 last.
The access control toll expressway will be stretching from Rampura point of Hatirjheel to the junction with NH-N1, also known as Chittagong Road, and NH-N2 or Sylhet Road with 9.4km elevated section.
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