CHATTOGRAM, Mar 22: Work on the construction of a 136-kilometre six-lane Chattogram-Cox's Bazar Expressway under the public-private partnership (PPP) modality is likely to start soon.
Sources said the work was yet to begin for a delay in a holding meeting of the road transport and bridges ministry and the funder, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The government will take a decision to this end soon, according to the sources.
The development project proposal (DPP) for the six-lane corridor has been submitted to the ministry concerned for approval.
The existing two-lane road is unable to cope with additional vehicles from the Bangabandhu Tunnel alongside maintaining the regular traffic rush.
The total cost of upgrading this two-lane highway into four more lanes is estimated at Tk 18,000 crore.
Officials of the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) said the DPP has already been submitted to the ministry concerned for approval.
In the meantime, Dhaka has proposed Tokyo for funding the project. The RHD will go for implementation of the project very soon after a positive response from the Japan government.
Sources said a feasibility study on the mega project to construct the expressway from Chattogram to Cox's Bazar under the PPP model was completed in April 2022.
The study, done by an expert team of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), has already been reviewed by their Japanese counterpart.
It proposed to develop 150 kilometres from Chattogram to Cox's Bazar by building an expressway at a cost of Tk 42,000 crore.
The study proposed two alternatives - the construction of the existing road into six lanes with two lanes on both sides for low-speed vehicles or the two-storey elevated expressway in the middle of the road.
The ministry will decide on the proposals and the authorities will start work on the 136-km expressway at an estimated Tk 7,000 crore.
Sources said the Japan government has agreed to build the expressway from the port city of Chattogram to the tourist city of Cox's Bazar under the PPP system.
Japanese firm Marubeni Corporation has proposed to take the initiative for construction of the project.
Earlier, the RHD formulated a DPP for the elevation of the road to a four-lane one at Tk 13,000 crore, which was submitted to the ECNEC for approval in 2018.
But the prime minister directed the authorities concerned to take the project for construction of an expressway instead of a four-lane road.
nazimuddinshyamol@gmail.com