City’s Kalshi crossing to get flyover

The Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) will build a 844-metre flyover in the capital's Kalshi area to ease traffic movement at the 'faulty' crossing, officials said.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the project and 12 others at a total cost of Tk 124.16 billion at its meeting on Tuesday, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal told a media briefing after the meeting.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chaired the meeting at the Planning Commission in the city.
Since the Mirpur- Kalshi-ECB Chattar-Banani Flyover is burdened with higher flow of vehicles, the DNCC decided to build the flyover and widen the existing road at a cost of Tk 6.12 billion, said a DNCC official.
Besides, construction of the road at Kalshi crossing point was found faulty due to non-availability of land, forcing the DNCC to construct the flyover, he added.
The Kalshi crossing is a narrow corridor where four roads from four sides have joined.
Bangladesh Army will build the flyover at Kalshi and widen the Mirpur-Kalshi-ECB Chattar road to ease the traffic movement.
According to the DNCC, some 60,000 to 70,000 vehicles ply through the road, creating gridlock at the Kalshi point and its adjacent areas.
Interestingly, the Kalshi road was widened and rebuilt at a substantial cost and connected to the Banani flyover-Mirpur DOHS (Defence Officers' Housing Society) road only three years back. Bangladesh Army was also responsible for the construction work.
Sources said, the new flyover project was placed before the Planning Commission in April last year by the LGRD ministry. But the project got stuck up as the DNCC was found reluctant to bear 20 per cent estimated cost of the project.
The ECNEC meeting also approved the "vertical expansion of the non-government secondary high schools project at a cost of Tk 52.37 billion.
The education ministry will develop infrastructure at some 3,250 private secondary schools, where academic buildings as well as supply of necessary furniture will be ensured.
The planning minister said that out of the total Tk 124.16 billion project cost for the 13 approved projects, Tk 118.22 billion will come from the state exchequer while the rest Tk 5.93 billion from the external sources as project assistance.
He said there were some 327 government secondary schools at present alongside 19,357 private secondary schools in the country, having over 9.16 million students.
The meeting also approved "Establishment of 160 Upazila ICT Training and Resource Centre for Education (UITRCE), 2nd phase," project at Tk 8.45 billion cost.
Mr Kamal said Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BANBEIS) under the Secondary and Higher Education Division will implement the project by June 2020.
The main objective of the project, he said, is to set up ICT training and resource centres with all necessary facilities to impart training to the teachers of the secondary-level educational institutions on ICT.
The other approved projects are Upazila Complex Extension (2nd phase) Project at Tk 19.25 billion, the Reclaimed Land Development from River Jamuna under Sirajganj District and Protection of the proposed Economic Zone at Tk 5.10 billion, River Bank Protection of Sangu and Dolu rivers under Satkania and Lohagara upazilas in Chittagong at Tk 3.33 billion, Reducing the Risk of Arsenic in Water Supply Project at Tk 19.91 billion, Construction of Independence Monument at Suhrawardy Uddyan (3rd phase) Project at Tk 2.65 billion, Construction of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Square at Talaimari, Rajshahi at Tk 592.8 million, Construction of Administrative Convention Centre at Khulna City at Tk 1.29 billion, Temple-based Children and Mass Education Programme-5th phase at Tk 2.16 billion, Establishment of Lalmonirhat Textile Institute at Tk 1.00 billion and Road Development from Jyointa to Jaflong on Dhaka-Sylhet-Tamabil-Jaflong National Highway at Tk 1.91 billion.

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