Elevated Expressway core structure construction from June: Quader

Construction of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway’s core infrastructure will start in June, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has said.

He says the expressway will significantly reduce the capital’s traffic congestion.

“Alternative routes will be available for commuters of the city’s northern and southern parts once the project’s core infrastructure is constructed,” Quader said Wednesday.

“People will be able to travel faster and transport goods without interruption.”

The 20km expressway will connect Shahjalal airport with Kutubkhali via Mohakhali, Tejgaon and Kamalapur.

It will be 46-km long including the connecting roads, and will cost around Tk 122 billion. It is expected to be completed next year.

The public-private partnership project will be implemented in three phases. 

Bangladesh signed the first agreement for the project on Jan 19, 2011 and the foundation stone was laid the same year.

But design changes and inflation pushed up the project cost and the Roads and Highways Division inked a fresh agreement with the investor, Ital-Thai Development Company, in December 2013.

Quader inaugurated the work in October last year.

He said 157 people, whose lands had been acquired for the project, would be rehabilitated.

“Forty acres of land have been secured for them and the project has already given them Tk 1.35 billion as compensation through the deputy commissioners,” the minister said.