Dhaka-Sylhet highway to be a four-lane one

Munima Sultana | Published: August 04, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

The government has taken steps to widen Dhaka-Sylhet highway as its next four-lane project to facilitate traffic movement which is likely to increase in near future.
Officials said feasibility study and detailed design of the country's important national highway was completed under a sub-regional road transport project. The study proposed to construct 286-kilometre road with four lanes for setting up a regional corridor with Shillong, in the Indian state of Meghalaya.
They said the Road Transport and Highways Division (RTHD) has taken steps to construct the 226 km four-lane road up to Sylhet and the development project proposal (DPP) is in the final stage.
The division also sought cooperation of the Economic Relations Division (ERD) to get fund for the costly four-lane project from development partners.
"Asian Development Bank (ADB) may fund the new four-lane project as it has provided technical assistance to conduct the feasibility study and draw a detailed design," said an official involved with the project.
He said as the Dhaka-Sylhet corridor is a part of the Asian Highway (AH) 02 and the government has already made progress in constructing the road up to Bangabandhu Bridge in four lanes.
However, a Chinese company named China Harbour Engineering Co Ltd (CHEC) has also shown interest to construct the road under the government-to-government arrangement and signed a memorandum of understanding with the division early this year.
The Dhaka-Sylhet highway is also an important part of the Asian Highway 02 which is to cross the country through Banglabandha and Tamabil via Joydevpur, Dhaka, Kanchpur and Sylhet.
At present, there are four-lane roads from Dhaka to Joydevpur and Dhaka to Kanchpur.
The Roads and Highways Department (RHD), with the technical assistance of the ADB, conducted the feasibility and made the detailed design of some 1,800 km national and regional highways under the project 'Technical Assistance for Sub-regional Road Transport Project Preparatory Facility'.
Sources said the sub-regional project also proposed to upgrade the 295 km road from other side of the Bangabandhu Bridge up to Burimari of Rangpur to facilitate establishing the AH 2 corridor.
Under the same project, feasibility study and detailed design on the total 286 km road from Dhaka (Kanchpur) to Tamabil through Bhairab-Jagadishpur-Shaistaganj-Sylhet highway were done.
However, sources said the Dhaka-Sylhet four-lane project cost is likely to be much higher than those of the ongoing two important arteries - Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Mymensingh four-lane projects.
The RTHD has fixed the project cost at Tk 126.65 billion which is Tk 92 billion more than the cost of Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane project and Tk 108 billion more than the cost of Dhaka-Mymensingh four-lane project.
It is found that the per mileage cost of the Dhaka-Sylhet road is more than triple the Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane project and double the Joydevpur-Mymensingh four-lane project.
However, an official of the sub-regional project said the Dhaka (Kanchpur)-Sylhet road has been designed providing facility for slow-moving vehicular traffic (SMVT) which would increase the width of the highway.
He said for the first time, the corridor will have four-lane road with 7.2 metres width in each side and 3.6 metres space for SMVT on both sides.
He said the road will also be designed to support increasing traffic movement as the government has also plan to establish a special economic zone in Sylhet.
According to the DPP, the target to complete the Dhaka-Sylhet four-lane project has been fixed at middle of 2019 and some 325 hectares of land will be required for acquisition. Experts said these factors are applicable to the two other four-lane projects for which construction of those were delayed by more than five years from the deadline.
The Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane project was supposed to be completed by 2011 but it was extended up to July 2016 due to inability to award the work and hand-over of the acquired land to the contractors in time.
Similar problems also delayed the implementation of the 87 km Joydevpur-Mymensingh four-lane project which was also supposed to be completed in 2013.
Welcoming the government's move to make the Dhaka-Sylhet highway a four-lane one, lead economist of the World Bank Zahid Hossain said there is no doubt about the importance of the highway from national and regional contexts.
But he emphasised the need for the government's focus on completion of land acquisition and on total control over the land before the project goes to the field level. Past experience of the two four-lane projects suggested that this was the major cause for unnecessary delay in completing the project, he said.
He also stressed the ways of management of the road since its importance is high from regional and international contexts.
"It should be determined right now as to how we are going to manage the road â€¦ tolls for maintenance etc as the traffic volume is likely to be increased on the corridor," he told the FE over phone.
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