Full-scale construction work is set to begin by December to upgrade Dhaka-Joydebpur road to a multimodal transport corridor with a dedicated bus lane as this gateway carries the highest traffic volume.
Official data show that this corridor takes the load of over 0.1 million traffic trips daily for having its links with different parts of the country.
Officials said project office had already called tender for construction of 16-kilometre grade road and feeder road and 4.5- km elevated road to develop the corridor.
"Selection of contractors for three categories of works is now under process, they added.
On its completion, the transport corridor will facilitate the country's first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line from Gazipur to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
"Evaluation committee has already completed the selection of contractors for some works. Now the committee reports were sent to the Asian Development Bank for its concurrence," said one official.
He said considering importance of the corridor particularly during Eid times, efforts have been made for the construction work at the soonest possible time.
The Roads and Highways Department, the implementing agency for the project, has already awarded the depot-site-development works and launched the project work after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurated the route at a ceremony last month.
Under Greater Dhaka Sustainable Urban Transport Project [BRT Gazipur-Airport], RHD has planned to develop 20-km corridor at a cost of Tk 20.40 billion for carrying 20,000 passengers per hour per direction.
It is expected that travelling time will be cut by half from the present two to three hours after the development of the corridor.
Under the project, a 20-km dedicated bus lane (BRT) will have 4.5-km elevated 4-lane bus lane, 8-lane Tongi bridge, seven flyovers, 141 access roads including 61 in Gazipur, high-capacity drains and footpaths along the entire corridor.
Apart from RHD, Bangladesh Bridge Authority and Local Government Engineering Department have been involved with the project to construct elevated part and access roads.
The sources said 50 articulated buses having three bodies will be plying the route with shift passengers from Joydebpur to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
A project official said as detailed design of work on the corridor is likely to be completed by September, it is planned to start the work at surface level by December.
He, however, said to manage the high volume of traffic during the construction work, a traffic management plan has been chalked out, opening up some alternative roads.
BRT is considered mass-transport system to be constructed for lower budget. However, officials said, the Gazipur-Uttara BRT, likely to be named Dhaka BRT, would be an expensive one for developing entire corridor.
The project cost initially was Tk 16 billion which went up to Tk 20.40 billion with incorporation of the corridor. The project office has already sent a proposal to revise the development-project proposal estimating the cost to be almost double.
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