Move to carry out feasibility study underway

A move has been taken to conduct a feasibility study to find a possible route for building outer circular road around Dhaka city aiming to ease traffic congestion.
Officials said Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) has taken the move with an aim to find the route as the outer circular road proposed earlier may be considered a middle circular road.
As the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has also taken a move to conduct feasibility study on some other routes, they said, those are likely to be considered inner and middle circular roads.
According to Dhaka Structure Plan (DSP) and Revised Strategic Transport Plan (RSTP), three ring or circular roads-- inner, middle and outer-- have been proposed surrounding the Dhaka city.
Some eight radial roads were also proposed in RSTP for connecting different areas with these ring roads.
Sources said the Hemayetpur-Kalakandi-Modonpur-Danga-Baipail-Gazipur route which was proposed in RSTP as outer circular road is now considered as middle circular road.
As a Japanese company has put forward a proposal to invest in the route, DTCA officials said, a decision was taken to conduct a new study to ascertain the route for outer circular road.
DTCA has already drawn up a technical project proposal (TPP) to conduct the study in next two years under the government fund and submitted it to the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges.
Later, the proposal will be sent to the Planning Commission for getting approval, sources said.
According to DSP and RSTP, ring and radial roads have been planned to distribute traffic properly. These would be used as bypass to avoid using city roads.
RHD has also taken steps to conduct a study to establish an inner circular road after completing a topographical survey.
The authority proposed building an 87-kilometre Termukh-Abdullahpur-Dhour-Gabtoli-Babubazar-Sadarghat-Postogola-Chasara-Signboard-Demra road.
At the meetings with Japanese investors, the DTCA also placed a proposal for building 129-kilometre Hemayetpur-Kalakandi-Modonpur-Danga-Baipail-Gazipur road as outer circular road under public-private partnership (PPP).
Under this circular road, six bus terminals with business transfer facility to the city have also been proposed.
According to DTCA officials, the study will be conducted at an estimated cost of Tk 160 million to find the scope for both financiers and PPP investors.
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