Expressway in Munshiganj mooted
MUNIMA SULTANA | Friday, 14 August 2020
A move has been made for a two-lane elevated expressway in parallel over the existing two-lane Munshiganj-Muktarpur road which remains stuck with traffic for its link with industrial areas.
The 9.06-kilometre expressway near Dhaka-Narayanganj road has been planned over the 10-kilometre regional road from Panchabati to Muktarpur after a feasibility study as scope for expanding existing road is limited.
Officials said the road gets 18,000 vehicles daily mainly to transport materials from big industries, including cement and potato, from Munshiganj district area through the country's first Bangladesh-China friendship bridge.
A pre-ECNEC meeting on the Tk 23.13-billion project was hosted virtually on Thursday.
It asked the Bangladesh Bridges Authority (BBA) to recast the development project proposal to downsize the cost and burden on the government in financing.
Meeting sources said the PEC recommended bearing 10-per cent project cost by the BBA as an autonomous body and discarding the idea of buying four vehicles under the project.
It also sought revision of land acquisition cost through the deputy commissioner's office as the BBA calculated it with the schedule of Roads and Highways Department (RHD).
The RHD owns the existing two-lane road.
Being a profitable state entity, the BBA has already been paying loan with single-digit interest rate against government funding for Padma bridge and Karnaphuli tunnel projects.
Sources said the RHD once tried to acquire the land from either side of the road in 2008, estimating the cost of Tk 7.0 billion.
But it failed to acquire land due to protests from local people.
The fresh project undertaken after the feasibility study by Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology will connect the road and the expressway on one side with Dhaka-Narayanganj road and the friendship bridge on the other.
Its expansion will connect the expressway with the third Shitalakhya bridge which is under construction.
The study recommended increasing the road's capacity through two tiers guiding to develop surface road with roundabouts at Kashipur where the road divides.
The expressway will have six ramps having 2.8 kilometre and interchange trumpet and roundabouts at the connecting point with Shitalakhya bridge.