The work for the much-awaited Greater Dhaka Sustainable Urban Transport Project is now 90% complete, with the remaining work scheduled to be finished by June.
Once operational, the travel time from Shibbari in Gazipur to the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport is expected to be 44 minutes. BRT will run 137 new diesel-powered AC buses on the route as well.
This project, implemented by Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) would mark the end of the 12-year hardship faced by vehicles and passengers traveling to the northern regions of the country, including Gazipur and Mymensingh.
The announcements were made by BRT officials at a public hearing at the Bhawal conference room of the Gazipur Deputy Commissioner on Wednesday afternoon.
Additional Secretary (Development) of Road Transport and Highways Division AKM Shameem Akhter attended the public hearing as the chief guest.
Officials said there will be two bus terminals, eight flyovers, 25 bus stops, 15 foot over bridges, 32 kilometers of footpaths, and 55 kilometers of drains on both sides, all meeting the required height regulation of 8.5 metres from the ground.
Officials said traffic would also be efficiently managed.
Journalists, including former Gazipur mayor Mohammad Jahangir Alam, criticized the slow pace of the project and highlighted the issue of public suffering.
Besides, they opined that the errors that were found could have been avoided if the public hearing had been held in the beginning instead of at the last stage of the completion of the project.
On March 24, seven flyovers on the Dhaka-Gazipur route were opened to traffic.
In anticipation of the Eid traffic surge, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has inaugurated seven flyovers on the Dhaka-Gazipur route constructed under the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) segment of the BRT project.
Vehicles now travel through these flyovers, which include a 323m Airport Flyover (left side), a 323m Airport Flyover (right side), a 180m Jasimuddin Flyover, a 165m U-turn-1 Gazipura Flyover, a 165m U-turn-2 Open University Flyover, a 240m Bhogra Flyover, and a 568m flyover at Gazipur Chowrasta.