The first phase of Dhaka elevated expressway construction will begin in June, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said yesterday.
Speaking at a workshop at Setu Bhaban in the capital, he said the first phase of the construction could not be initiated because of land acquisition difficulties.
“But the problems have now been resolved and work will start in June,” he said.
“The expressway will add to the capacity of the north-south routes and act as a bypass route. People moving during peak hours will get the highest benefit once the project is completed,” Quader said.
He said the expressway would facilitate uninterrupted movement of transports carrying consumer goods as well as heavy goods.
The proposed expressway starts at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and runs alongside New Airport Road via Mohakhali, Tejgaon and Moghbazar to Kamalapur Railway Station before connecting with Dhaka-Chittagong highway via Sayedabad and Jatrabari.
“A total of 157 land owners have been affected because of land acquisition and they have received Tk134 crore in compensation,” said Quader.
“The government will also rehabilitate those who lost their houses during the acquisition process. We have already arranged 40 acres of land for that purpose.”
The elevated expressway project has already missed three deadlines and construction was delayed for fund crisis.
In December last year, construction firm Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited refused to start work unless it had the final confirmation of land acquisition.
In January 2011, the government signed an agreement with the Bangkok-based company to build the four-lane expressway at a cost of Tk8,703 crore under the Public-Private Partnership scheme.
The deal was later revised and a fresh one was inked on December 15, 2013. In the wake of continuous fund crisis, the company last year entered into a $1.062bn contract with China Railway Construction Corporation to build the elevated expressway.
