Tongi-Ashulia 18km road to be promoted to a 4-lane one

FE Team | Published: April 19, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

FHM Humayan Kabir
The government would upgrade the Tongi-Ashulia 18-kilometre road to a four-lane one to facilitate the industrial and agro product transportation to and from the capital city, official said Monday. Communications ministry officials said they would invest Tk 1.47 billion for upgrading the existing 2-lane road to a 4-lane one by December 2013 for smooth goods transportation. "If the Tongi-Ashulia road is upgraded, smooth transportation of raw materials and finished products to the industrial belt of Dhaka EPZ and agro-products from different northwestern regions to the capital would be ensured," a senior communications ministry official said. Businessmen have been putting pressure on the government for long to upgrade the road communications between Dhaka and the suburban industrial hub at Savar as they face unusual delay in their activities for heavy traffic congestion on the existing narrow road. The state-owned Roads and Highways Department (RHD) will construct the 18km long four-lane road from Tongi's Abdullahpur to Ashulia's Baipail area. The Tongi-Ashulia road is very important to the country's economy as it is used for carrying industrial goods from the Dhaka export processing zone (EPZ) and Savar areas, and transporting agro-products from the northern and north-western areas of the country to Dhaka. The Ashulia-Tongi road is the entry-point for the north and northwestern-based businesses, that carry products, especially agricultural goods, from the agro-based regions of the country. The communications ministry official said that the Tk 1.47 billion Tongi-Ashulia road upgrading scheme is expected to be placed before the next meeting of government's highest economic policy making body, the ECNEC. A planning commission official said they have already sent it to the ECNEC (Executive Committee of the National Economic Council) for getting approval. The government has already decided to construct the Airport-Chandra elevated expressway through Ashulia to ensure smooth traffic flow to and from the capital city. A study of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry carried out in collaboration with Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport states that Tk 200 billion is lost every year and 8.15 million working hours are wasted every year because of the traffic gridlock in Dhaka city. Another study conducted by Roads and Highways Department in 2009 also estimated the annual loss of fuel worth Tk 96 million that the motorised vehicles burn by staying longer than usual in the streets.