At 10 o’clock on a sunny October morning in the year 2023, Nizam Uddin Chowdhury arrives in Chittagong for a business meeting.
He woke up in his apartment in Dhaka at 7am and started for the port city in his luxurious eco-friendly SUV at 8 o’clock.
That’s right, it took him just two hours because he is one of the first passengers to travel on the newly constructed Dhaka-Chittagong expressway that has drastically reduced the usually seven to eight hours’ journey on the country’s most important route.
The meeting will end at midday and he plans to be in his office back in Dhaka by 3pm.
As much as it seems like a scene from a futuristic commercial movie, the government is now – in 2015 – in the middle of readying a plan for such an expressway that might make the journey between Dhaka and Chittagong a two-hour matter.
This plan comes at a time when the government has already missed several deadlines for completing an ongoing project for upgrading the existing two-lane highway into four lanes between the two cities.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to open the road in about a couple of months time in December, although nearly a fourth of the project’s work is still left.
Recently, two senior bureaucrats, in charge of two important ministries, have given two Powerpoint presentations in front of the prime minister at her office on the proposed “Dhaka-Chittagong Expressway” and the “Dhaka-Chittagong Express Railway.”
They said, if everything goes according to plan, the same two-hour journey between the two most important cities in the country will be possible by train as well.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Qauder told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday: “The government has approved the draft detailed design of the Dhaka-Chittagong expressway. The Tk40,000 crore project will be implemented under the public-private partnership [PPP] scheme.”
He also said: “These expressways will make the journey between Dhaka and Chittagong smooth, increase business and strengthen capacity and connectivity.”
Railways Minister Mojibul Haque said: “The proposed high-speed rail service will include facilities for both passengers and goods. But passengers will get priority.”
According to the presentation that Md Firoz Salauddin, acting secretary of the Railways Ministry, gave to the PM, the express railway project will cost $4bn and will take five years to complete.
The expressway
The Dhaka-Chittagong expressway will begin from Kanchpur, a key entry point to the capital city, and end in Sitakunda in the outskirts of the port city, as per the plan.
“Around 30% of the expressway will be elevated,” said minister Obaidul Quader, elaborating on the plan.
A 2013 Asian Development Bank (ADB) study shows that 90% of Bangladesh’s export-import goods are transported on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway. Around 60% of the vehicles using the highway carry goods, while 27% transport passengers.
The expressway will have six lanes, which will run alongside the four lanes that are now work-in-progress. Two of these in the middle will make a limited-access road for high-speed traffic. This means that there will be just one entry and one exit and no feeder roads.
The other four lanes, on either side of this expressway, will be controlled access highways that will provide unhindered flow of traffic with no or few traffic signals, intersections or property access. There will be one ramp that will allow traffic to travel at high speed to Comilla.
According to a ministry official, the total length of the expressway will be 198km. “So vehicles will have to move at a speed of at least 100km per hour if they are to reach Chittagong from Dhaka in two hours and vice versa,” he said.
Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary MAN Siddique, who gave the presentation before the PM, told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have already completed the feasibility study to executed the plan.
“The draft detailed design is also complete and has got the government’s approval. Now we are working to finalise the detailed design. Several Chinese companies have already shown interest in the PPP project. So, the government might not have to spend a single penny for this,” the secretary said.
He also said that the investor will be able to take a return on investment by collecting toll from vehicles using the expressway.
The SMEC International Pty Ltd of Australia had conducted the feasibility study at a cost of Tk97.876 crore over the last two years. The Bangladesh government and ADB funded this study.
The Planning Commission approved this project in April 2013 and the feasibility study started in July of that year.
The express railway
The high-speed train service between Dhaka-Chittagong has been planned, keeping in mind the scenario likely to emerge 20 years later.
According to a survey of the Railways Ministry, 80% of the passengers who travel on this route will be interested in using the high-speed train service as it will save time and money and will also be a comfortable journey.
At present, the Dhaka-Chittagong track runs through Akhaurha in Brahmanbarhia which makes the journey lengthy.
When the project will be implemented, high speed trains will first go to Moynamati in Comilla via Fatullah of Narayanganj and Daudkandi and Mohanpur and then run parallel with the existing Comilla-Chittagong track.
On the proposed route, a new 110km track will have to be laid from Dhaka to Comilla following land acquisition.
If diesel-electric traction locomotives run over standard gauge tracks, the trains will be able to travel at 160km/hr. The speed will rise to 200km/hr if the trains run on electricity. Ten trains would be able to ply on the route with 100MW electricity.
Railways Secretary Md Firoz Salauddin, who also gave the presentation before the PM on October 8, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The existing track from Dhaka to Chittagong is 300km long. The shorter track will be laid alongside the existing Dhaka-Chittagong four lane highway. So, the distance will be reduced by 100km.”
The China Railway Engineering Group has helped the ministry to complete a feasibility study.
According to sources, around 3,000 acres of land will have to be acquired and a supply of 100MW electricity will have to be ensured for the project so that 10 trains can operate simultaneously at speeds of 200km/hr.
