Shelved Dhaka-Ashulia highway upgrading project being revived

The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has now made a move to revive a shelved project on upgrading the busy Dhaka-Ashulia highway to a four-lane one.   
Officials said the initiative came in view of hurdles that may crop up during the implementation of the elevated expressway project on the same route under the Bangladesh Bridge Authority.
Sources said the Tongi-Ashulia-EPZ Four-lane Project was shelved three years back. The ground was that Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway Project was underway to take the increasing traffic load on the corridor.
RHD officials, however, said widening the Tongi-Ashulia-EPZ section of the busy highway is imperative -- nevertheless -- as the existing two-lane route fails to carry the increasing traffic.
They argue that the Bangladesh Bridge Authority could not make any headway with the Dhaka-Ashulia Expressway project during the last three years.
"It has now become hard to manage the road. We are worried what would be happening in the next rainy season. Road condition of the existing two-lane route has turned too bad to manage heavy traffic," said one official, preferring anonymity.
"It could not be improved even after carrying out maintenance works last year."
He made a point that even if the elevated expressway is constructed, the widening of the Dhaka-Ashulia road will be necessary for the movement of heavy traffic through the industrial belt.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in a meeting in May 2011 decided not to approve the Tongi-Ashulia-EPZ Four-lane Project as the BBA already had taken a move to construct an elevated expressway under public-private partnership instead.
Upon the ECNEC meeting's recommendation, the matter was then discussed in a meeting with the Prime Minister. Eventually, the project was ditched.
But, during the three years, the BBA failed to make the Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway attractive to entrepreneurs under the newly-conceived PPP paradigm of development.
The Authority could not obtain any acceptable proposal from reliable firms after inviting tender in 2013.
Official sources said the BBA is now planning to take the project under government-to-government arrangement following a proposal received from a Chinese company.
They said the BBA got two Chinese proposals last year but signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with one company on January 22 to arrange funds under the G2G arrangement.  
China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation will now submit commercial proposal and, after negotiation, the BBA will sign agreement awarding the work. A senior official said the elevated expressway is expected to get a shape as the project came under focus during the meetings with the delegation members who visited the country during the Chinese Foreign Minister's tour in December.
Asked about possible conflict between the two projects, the officials, however, said that the problem could be solved through coordination.
On condition of anonymity, a BBA official said the interested Chinese company could be asked to find a solution during the feasibility study to confirm a route.
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