Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate a portion of the Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover at 10:30 am on Wednesday at Officers’ Club in the capital.
Though construction work on the project is incomplete, the 2.11 kilometre stretch from Satrasta intersection to Holi Family Hospital – a fifth of the flyover’s total length – will be opened. The flyover has seen a number of delays and cost overruns since construction began.
“The prime minister will open a portion of the flyover from Officers’ Club, as well as travelling on the flyover in a motorcade. An inauguration stone will be laid at the Satrasta intersection,” said local government division Additional Secretary Sirajul Islam.
He told the Dhaka Tribune: “The flyover will be open to vehicles after the inauguration ceremony.”
It was estimated to cost Tk343.70 crore when the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved it in 2011. The cost then more than doubled to Tk772.77 crore and then skyrocketed to Tk1,218.89 crore. The prime minister laid the foundation stone of the project on February 16, 2013.
Although the flyover was expected to be completed by July 2014, it is now scheduled to be ready by December 2016.
The under-construction flyover is being built in three parts.
One part is the 2.11 kilometre stretch from Satrasta to Ramna police station. The second part, which runs from Eskaton to Mouchak, is 86% complete. The third part from Rampura to Shantinagar, via Malibagh and Rajarbagh police lines, is only 47% complete.