Govt signs deal with Chinese firm to upgrade Dhaka-Sylhet Highway to four lanes

The government has entered into a deal with a Chinese company to upgrade the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway into a four-lane one with service lanes on both sides.

The Roads and Highways Department's (RHD) Chief Engineer Ibne Alam Hasan and China Harbor Engineering Company Limited Vice-President Tang Qiaoliang signed the agreement at a hotel in Dhaka on Sunday.

After the ceremony, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said the 226-kilometre highway from Kanchpur to Sylhet would be upgraded at an estimated cost of about Tk 170 billion.

The project funded by the Chinese government would be implemented by the China Harbor Engineering Company by 2018, he added.

"We are feeling the absence of service lanes besides the Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways after they were upgraded into four lanes. We are also weighing the options of adding these lanes beside these highways under new projects," said the minister.

RHD Chief Engineer Hasan said low-speed vehicles will use separate service lanes on both sides of the highways.

Under the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway four-lane upgrading project, 60 small bridges, four flyovers and 27 box culverts will also be built.