The much-awaited Dhaka Elevated Expressway – one of the mega infrastructure projects implemented by the current government – is set to open today (September 02, 2023) with big hopes of easing Dhaka’s traffic congestion and commuting costs by reducing travel time to a great extent. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the Kawla-Farmgate section of the elevated expressway, Road, Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader had said. Read : Elevated expressway marks first of 9 megaprojects to be inaugurated before election The Dhaka Elevated Expressway will be open to traffic from 6 am tomorrow (September 03, 2023). The authorities have set the speed limit at 60 km while motorbikes and bicycles will not be allowed on the expressway. Once opened, it will take 10 minutes for a vehicle with a speed of up to 60km per hour to reach Farmgate from Kawla. About 80,000 vehicles will be able to pass through the Dhaka Elevated Expressway every day, project officials say. Read : Metro Rail and Padma Bridge prove AL believes in deeds, not words: Quader As per project details, the first contract was signed on January 19, 2011 and the reviewed agreement was signed on December 15, 2013, and the project completion period was from July 2011 to June 2024. The total length of the elevated expressway is 46.73 km including 19.73 km of the main elevated part. The Dhaka Elevated Expressway will cover Kawla, Kuril, Banani, Mohakhali, Tejgaon, Moghbazar, Kamalapur, Sayedabad, Jatrabari to Qutubkhali on Dhaka-Chattogram highway. Vehicles plying on Dhaka Elevated Expressway will have to pay tolls, which will be collected in four categories. Read : PM to inaugurate Agargaon-Motijheel section of Dhaka Metro Rail on Oct 20

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), as a transaction advisor for the Government of Bangladesh’s Rampura Amulia Demra Expressway public–private partnership (PPP) project, has mobilized $261 million of private sector capital for a four-lane, 13.5 km expressway. It will ease traffic congestion and provide better connectivity between the capital Dhaka and other major cities. The project is being funded through a $193 million senior loan from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Bank of China, DBS Bank Limited, and Infrastructure Development Company Limited, a nonbanking financial institution based in Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s estimated growth higher than forecast for FY 2023: ADB The remaining $68 million is provided by sponsors as equity contributions, ADB said on Thursday. ADB assisted in project structuring, negotiation, tender execution, and provided support for commercial award and financial closure. “We worked with the public authorities in Bangladesh to prepare, market, and attract private sector partners to design, build, finance, operate and maintain this expressway,” said Head of ADB Office of Markets Development and PPP, Cleo Kawawaki. ADB increases support for rural roads improvement in Bangladesh “It will provide commuters with quicker access to their destinations by improving connectivity between Dhaka and eastern and southeastern districts of Bangladesh, including the cities of Chattogram, Narayanganj, and the northeastern city of Sylhet.” Kawawaki said that the Rampura Amulia Demra PPP project was delivered under an availability payment mechanism with partial revenue linked to US dollar and taka exchange rate movements, whereas the first road transaction, the $370 million Dhaka Bypass Road PPP, was structured as a minimum revenue guarantee. ADB appoints Fatima Yasmin as Vice-President for sectors, themes “ADB has therefore helped establish the pathway for both types of payment mechanisms in Bangladesh for future private sector investments in the infrastructure sector,” she said.  The deal—part of a programmatic approach taken by ADB to develop road PPPs as an asset class for investments—is the second successful financial closure of a PPP transaction with ADB as transaction advisor in Bangladesh. ADB is currently advising the government on the Joydebpur Mymensingh Expressway PPP project, which will improve connectivity to 10 special economic zones. The Rampura Amulia Demra Expressway will be designed, constructed, financed, operated, and maintained during a 25 year concession period by a consortium comprising China Communications Construction Company Limited and China Road and Bridge Corporation.  Read more: Purbachal Expressway: Next megaproject unveiling up govt's sleeve?

The long-awaited Purbachal Expressway will connect the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway with the capital. According to Rajuk, the capital development authority, the expressway will be ready to be inaugurated in the next 2-3 months. Billed as one of the most spectacular and attractive expressways in south and eastern Asia, it will connect Dhaka’s Progoti Swaroni and Airport Road to the Eastern Bypass. There will be no traffic signals on the 12.5-km long expressway, which will have upto 14 lanes. According to Rajuk, a 6.5-km stretch of the 12.5-km expressway, from the capital’s Kuril area to the Balu River, is being constructed with 14 lanes. Of these 14 lanes, eight will be part of the main expressway, while the remaining six lanes will be used as service roads for the movement of local vehicles. The 6-km stretch of the expressway from the Balu River to Kanchan Bridge will have 12 lanes - six forming the expressway, six as service roads. At present, 95 percent of the project is complete, said sources at Rajuk. Read More: RAJUK lauches work on deep tube wells for Purbachal New Town project  The cost of construction of the expressway has been estimated at Tk 764 crore. As part of the project, 10 large bridges will be built at an estimated cost of Tk 488 crore. The construction of the expressway from Kuril Bishwa Road to Kanchan Bridge is in the final stages. Currently the construction of drainage systems along the roads and canals is going on. In many places, dividers are being installed. The Bangladesh Army's 24 Engineer Construction Brigade is implementing the project. Meanwhile, Rajuk is currently digging 100-foot-wide canals on both sides of the Kuril-Purbachal Link road with the help of the Army, to preclude waterlogging. Rajuk Chairman Anisur Rahman Miah told UNB recently that most of this work is complete. Also read: Construction underway of iconic Bangabandhu Tri-Tower at Purbachal There will also be 13 arched bridges, like the ones in Hatirjheel, costing an estimated Tk 227 crore. Five at-grade intersections are being constructed so that vehicles in the adjacent areas can use the service lanes to get on the expressway at the same grade or elevation. A subway will be added to the expressway under each intersection, according to Rajuk. Besides, a four-kilometer drainage line for rain water, two culverts and 12 water bus stands will be constructed in the project area. In addition, the number of pedestrian-bridges has been increased from the four mentioned in the original project outline of 2015 to 12, the number of pump houses from one to five, and the number of sluice gates from four to ten. Read More: Iconic Purbachal CBD project launched “The entire project will be completed in a quick time," Anisur Rahman said. "Hopefully, it will be inaugurated within the next three months. Once complete, the road communication between the capital and Purbachal will be modernised. Rajuk and police will work jointly to provide adequate security on the roads.” Regarding the canal reclamation project, Anisur said: “Once there were three major canals - Dumni, Boalia, and AD-8 -that would drain the rainwater out of the Airport, Nikunja, Baridhara and surrounding areas. However, those canals are completely gone.” “We’re hoping to reclaim those canals with this project,” he added. The plan to dig and develop a 100-foot-wide canal on either side of the Kuril-Purbachal link road was approved at the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on November 4, 2018. The Rajuk chairman hopes that the canals will help to solve the waterlogging problem in the Kuril, Baridhara, Nikunja and Airport areas during monsoon. Read More: Hasina unveils state-of-the-art exhibition centre in Purbachal The Rajuk chairman said that once all the work is complete, the area would also present 'the nearest tourist spot' to Dhaka. The estimated cost of the Purbachal Expressway project was originally Tk 5,287 crore, back in 2015. The addition of three additional canals, roads, bridges, and other elements described above have added an extra Tk 5,043 crore. The overall cost of the project has thus nearly doubled to Tk 10,330 crore.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday (November 12, 2022) inaugurated the construction work of Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway — aiming to facilitate fast entry and exit of vehicles to and from the capital. She launched the construction of the Tk 17,553 crore expressway virtually, joining from her official residence Ganabhaban. Once built, the 24km expressway will connect Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to Abdullahpur, Ashulia, Baipail and Dhaka Export Processing Zone on the Nabinagar-Chandra highway. Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway will allow people from 30 districts to enter and exit the capital fast and easily. It is also expected to boost the country's gross domestic product by 0.21 percent, as per projection. Also read: 2nd day of toll collection: Traffic jam eases on Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga expressway The expressway, which is expected to be completed in 2026 — in the Asian Highway Alignment — will be linked to the Dhaka Elevated Expressway. The aim of the Ashulia Expressway is to reduce traffic congestion on the Abdullahpur-Ashulia-Bypail-Chandra road, connecting 30 districts with Dhaka. The project will have an 11km ramp. There will be a 14.28km four-lane connecting road on both sides of the flyover. The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) in 2017 approved the project which was originally scheduled to be completed in June 2022. Construction of the Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway has not progressed in the last five years due to complexity of the loan agreement with China. Also read: Mawa-Bhanga expressway witnesses huge traffic snarl on first day of toll collection The government and Exim Bank of China signed a $1.1 billion loan agreement for construction of the Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway in October 2021. Though China was initially supposed to bear the entire cost of the project, due to the change in the country's debt policy, it is now providing 85 percent of the total expenditure. In June this year, the Ecnec meeting approved the amendment proposal of the project with the time extension to June 2026. Now the project cost has increased by Tk652 crore to Tk17,553 crore from Tk 16,901 crore. Some pre-construction work such as land development and instrument purchase started earlier. Now the project's main construction work will begin with the laying of the foundation stone by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Read More: South Korean firm to collect toll from Dhaka-Mawa Expressway for 5 years The Dhaka Elevated Expressway will run over a 20km stretch from the Dhaka airport to Kutubkhal point on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway. The two expressways, a total 44km in length, will save commuters four to five hours usually lost in Dhaka city traffic.

A  30-year-old construction worker died in a freak accident on an under-construction elevated expressway in the Tejgaon railway station area of Dhaka on Wednesday evening, police said on Thursday. The deceased was identified as Mohammad Hasan Mijhi, son of late Fazlur Rahman Mijhi of Bara Sundar village in Chandpur Sadar. Read: Worker dies at Sitakunda shipyard Mijhi sustained serious injuries while placing a girder (a support beam), said Md Shamim, a colleague who rushed him to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH). "He was declared dead on arrival by doctors at the hospital," he said. Inspector Mohammad Bachchu Mia of the DMCH police camp, said the body was kept at the hospital morgue for an autopsy.

Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC), a South Korean firm, has received the government’s nod to install and operate  the toll collection system for three bridges on the Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga expressway. “We’ve given our “in principle” approval to the proposal of the Road Transportation and Highway Division to appoint the KEC for installation and operation of the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) on the Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga expressway”, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal told reporters after the cabinet body meeting. Kamal presided over the high-powered committee meeting on Thursday. Also read: Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga Expressway to open up new era of road connectivity Briefing on the outcomes of the meeting Additional secretary of the Cabinet Division Md Shamsul Arefin informed that the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) has been funding the project to install the ITS on the Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga expressway to facilitate toll collection from the three bridges including the multipurpose Padma Bridge on the highway in their crossing.  He noted that the KEC will work as a service provider for the operation and maintenance of the ITS where revenue collection will be fully automatic. The vehicles GPRS system will be utilised in the automatic toll collection system, he added. Shamsul, however, did not give any detail of the financial involvement in the contract. He said the proposal will come again to the Cabinet Division for the final approval of the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase where details of the contract will be placed.    Officials said the ITS is a part of the project titled: “Improving the reliability and safety on national highway corridors of Bangladesh”. The project aims to make the road transport infrastructure of Bangladesh  safer, reliable, and sustainable; use ICT for better, efficient and effective traffic management; and enhance the institutional capacity of RHD for road and traffic management. The officials said the KOICA  has been supporting the government with a budget of $8.9 million from 2020-2023 for establishment of ITS master plan, architecture and standard, implementation of pilot project, capacity building of RHD, RTHD and other relevant organizations of the government of Bangladesh. Also read: Dhaka-Mymensingh highway to be upgraded to expressway Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase in a separate meeting approved a total of 8 procurement proposals. A proposal of the Roads and Highway Division received approval of the committee for awarding a Tk 251.60 crore contract to National Development Engineers Ltd., to set up a road research and training centre and maintenance work under the Elenga-Hatikamrul-Rangpur highway 4-lane Improvement project. The Public Works Department’s proposal to award a Tk 65.98 crore contract to the Joint Venture of (1) TBEAL; (2) STI and (3) TEC for construction of a 15-story residential building at Cumilla Police line for Bangladesh police received the committee’s approval.   A proposal of the Education Ministry received the nod of the committee to award contracts to 11 bidders for printing, binding and supply of 1.07 crore books for students of different classes of 2022 at Tk 25.05 crore. The committee approved a proposal of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) to award a Tk 125.42 crore contract to China Energy Engineering Group Anhui No.1 Electric Power Construction Co. Ltd., for implementing a power distribution project in Kumilla on turnkey basis. The committee gave nod to a proposal of the Ministry of Parbatta Chattagram Hill-Tracts Affairs to award a Tk 202.33 crore contract to Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory Limited for installation of 40,000 solar home systems, each having 100 watt-peak capacity, and 2500 solar community system, each having 320 watt-peak capacity, at three hill districts. Three separate proposals of the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) received the nods of the Cabinet body. Of these, the BCIC will import 30,000 metric tons of bulk prilled urea fertilizer from Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) at a cost of Tk 119.82 crore with value of each metric ton US$470. It will purchase 30,000 MT of bagged granular urea fertilizer from Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company at Tk 111.11 crore which each metric ton value at US$431.   The BCIC will import 30,000 mt of phosphoric acid from three firms at Tk 193.17 crore.

Dhaka (Joydebpur)-Mymensingh Highway is going to be upgraded to an expressway as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved a proposal to develop the road under public-private partnership (PPP).

The government has taken a plan to increase allocation for the transport and communications sector to Tk 773.65 billion in 2022-23 fiscal year, with an average 14.65 percent increase each year, since road connectivity is considered as the most important factor for the rapid development of a country.