Even though Dhaka residents were supposed to be enjoying the facilities of an elevated expressway by now, construction of the much-hyped project is yet to begin with only a month and a half remaining of its 42-month completion deadline.
Authorities concerned blamed lengthy land acquisition procedures, frequent changes in design, and the contractors’ failure in collecting sufficient funds as the reasons behind the delay in completing the Dhaka Elevated Expressway.
The country’s first expressway was scheduled to be completed by this June, but later the deadline for the project was extended to December this year.
After missing more than a dozen deadlines, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on October 13 said the construction work for the elevated expressway would start towards the end of the month.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Dhaka Elevated Expressway Project Director Kazi Mohammad Ferdous said: “The project development is going on as we have started preliminary work on constructing the expressway. The project office has already been established... The construction will begin at full swing from the airport point soon.”
However, during a visit to different points on the proposed route of the expressway, the Dhaka Tribune did not find any activity regarding the construction of the elevated expressway.
Residents of the areas where the expressway is supposed to go through – including Khilkhet, Mohakhali, Tejgaon, Moghbazar, Kamalapur and Jatrabari – expressed dismay at the sluggish pace of the project.
Laila Habib, a resident of Nakhalpara, said: “Although Tejgaon is an industrial area, traffic jam is a problem in our daily life.” She urged authorities concerned to implement the expressway as soon as possible.
Farhan Hossain, a resident of Khilkhet, said: “We have heard the expressway was supposed to be completed this year. But where is it? You cannot find a single brick [of the project].”
He also pointed out that the expressway was being unnecessarily delayed, while two other flyovers – Zillur Rahman Flyover and Kuril Flyover – had been completed in a hurry.
The construction of these two flyovers were supervised by the Engineers Construction Battalion of Special Works Organisation (SWO) of Bangladesh Army, while the construction of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway is being supervised by the Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) under the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges.
In June 2010, former communications minister Syed Abul Hossain said the government aimed to complete the first phase of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway project within its tenure.
In January 2011, the Bangladesh government signed an agreement with Bangkok-based company Ital-Thai for constructing the four-lane expressway at a cost of Tk8,703 crore under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP).
After the signing, Ital-Thai reportedly fell into a fund crisis as it failed to convince financiers for sufficient funds for the project’s feasibility study, detailed design, soil quality and environment impact assessment, resettlement plan after land acquisition, and construction costs.
On April 3, 2011, the project’s groundwork began at snail’s pace, and at the end of the month, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of the project.
The construction was scheduled to kick off in July 2011 and be completed in the next 42 months.
The route of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway will start at Shahjalal International Airport and run alongside the New Airport Road via Mohakhali, Tejgaon and Moghbazar to Kamalapur Railway Station and connect with the Dhaka-Chittagong highway near Kutubkhali via Golapbagh.
The construction of the expressway was said to be completed in three phases.
In the first phase, an 8km route from Shahjalal International Airport to Tejgaon would be constructed. Another 8km route from Tejgaon to Kamalapur and a 7km route from Kamalapur to Kutubkhali near Dhaka-Chittagong highway would be completed in second and third phases respectively.
The expressway is a prime component of a 20-year Strategic Transport Plan of the government, which aims to reduce traffic congestion and ease movement in the capital.
Meanwhile, the construction for another project – Dhaka-Ashulia Expressway – under the Bridge Authority, has also been hibernating for absence of sufficient funds, said BBA sources.
