The government on Thursday fixed toll rates for the much-awaited Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel in Chittagong.
The Bridges Division has issued a gazette notification in this regard.
According to this gazette, to cross the tunnel, the minimum toll rate has been set at Tk200, while the maximum amount is Tk1,000, depending on vehicles.
A car, jeep and pickup van have to pay Tk200 for crossing the tunnel and a microbus has to pay Tk250.
In the case of buses, vehicles with 31 seats or less will have to pay Tk300, and buses with 32 seats or more will have to pay Tk400.
Meanwhile, the toll for buses (three axles) is fixed at Tk500.
Apart from this, a toll of Tk400 has been fixed for five-ton trucks, Tk500 for over five to eight-ton trucks, and Tk600 for over eight to 11-ton trucks.
Tk800 has to be paid for a three-axle truck or trailer, and Tk1,000 for a four-axle truck or trailer.
If the vehicle is over four axles, then an additional Tk200 will have to be paid for each axle.
The tunnel is set to be inaugurated in September.
The length of the under-construction tunnel will be 3.40 kilometres with an approach road of 5.35 kilometres alongside a 740-metre bridge linking the main city, port and Western side of the river with its Eastern side.
As part of the project, bridges, totaling 740 metres in length have been built, linking the main port city and western side of Karnaphuli River with the heavily industrializing eastern side of the river and Anwara upazila.
The tunnel will connect the proposed Asian Highway with Dhaka- Chittagong -Cox's Bazar Highway along with reducing the distance from Chittagong to Cox's Bazar by 40 km. Vehicles in this tunnel will run at a speed of 80 km per hour, according to the project details.
Bangabandhu Tunnel is being built at a cost of Tk 10,374 crore.
The tunnel project is being implemented with joint funding from the governments of Bangladesh and China. The Exim Bank of China is giving a loan of Taka 5,913 crore with a two percent interest rate while the Bangladesh government is funding the remaining portion.