The construction cost of each kilometer of the 55km highway is Tk100.12 crore Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka TribuneThe construction of the Pachchar-Bhanga part may take some additional time to complete, he added.
Echoing Obaidul Quader, Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary MAN Siddique said the project will be completed within the stipulated time unless any major crisis arises.
Inaugurated on November 17 last year, the project has made a significant headway. During a recent visit to the site, this correspondent found hundreds of workers, including army personnel, busy working with heavy construction instrument and large excavators, digging out soil for the leveling work along the existing road.
Shamsul Huq, a professor of civil engineering department at Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology, said: “Neighbouring countries like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have built expressways many years ago. Thought it is late, we are finally getting one.
“An expressway can save a huge amount of time, cut the number of accidents and provide a comfortable journey to passengers, thus contributing to the country’s economic growth. The important task will be the proper maintenance of such highways.”
He also observed that better transport service would help bring a qualitative change in the lifestyles of the southern districts’ people.
Meanwhile, the government has planned to upgrade the Dhaka-Chittagong highway into an expressway as well.The 55km Dhaka-Bhanga Expressway, construction work of which is now in full swing, is expected to reduce travel time between Dhaka and Faridpur by several hours, improving connectivity and communication between Dhaka and southern districts.
Commuters at present spend seven to eight hours to reach Faridpur from Dhaka as the existing two-lane Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga road is almost always clogged with heavy traffic. Also, inadequate numbers of ferry and their slow movement contribute to making journeys unnecessarily long.
The express highway -- 31.7km from Jatrabari to Mawa, 3km from Babu Bazar to Ekuria, and 20km from Pachchar to Bhanga -- is being implemented in two phases by Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and Special Works Organisation (SWO) of Bangladesh Army, under the supervision of Road Transport and Highways Division, at the cost of Tk6,252 crore.
The construction cost of each kilometer of the highway is Tk100.12 crore.
Expressway is a highway designed for fast traffic, with controlled entrance and exit, a dividing strip between the traffic in opposite directions, and typically two or more lanes in each direction.
The Executive Committee of National Economic Council approved the project on May 3 last year. According the project plan, the 55km-long road, scheduled to be opened by December next year, will be upgraded into a four-lane one, where slow moving vehicles will be allowed only under special circumstances.
The highway will include a five-metre wide central reservation, two service roads for slow moving vehicles, three large bridges over the Dhalashari and Arial Kha rivers, and a total of 28 culverts and bridges of different lengths, the officials concerned told the Dhaka Tribune.
Six flyovers and four railroad overpasses will be constructed at different points in order to ensure an uninterrupted vehicular movement on the highway.
Also, there will be designated space in the road for metro rail services, they added.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said: “The expressway will be the first of its kind in Bangladesh, where vehicles will no longer face any disruption. We hope to be able open it to traffic by December next year, when the Padma Bridge will be opened too.”
The construction cost of each kilometer of the 55km highway is Tk100.12 crore Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka TribuneThe construction of the Pachchar-Bhanga part may take some additional time to complete, he added.
Echoing Obaidul Quader, Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary MAN Siddique said the project will be completed within the stipulated time unless any major crisis arises.
Inaugurated on November 17 last year, the project has made a significant headway. During a recent visit to the site, this correspondent found hundreds of workers, including army personnel, busy working with heavy construction instrument and large excavators, digging out soil for the leveling work along the existing road.
Shamsul Huq, a professor of civil engineering department at Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology, said: “Neighbouring countries like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have built expressways many years ago. Thought it is late, we are finally getting one.
“An expressway can save a huge amount of time, cut the number of accidents and provide a comfortable journey to passengers, thus contributing to the country’s economic growth. The important task will be the proper maintenance of such highways.”
He also observed that better transport service would help bring a qualitative change in the lifestyles of the southern districts’ people.
Meanwhile, the government has planned to upgrade the Dhaka-Chittagong highway into an expressway as well.
The construction cost of each kilometer of the 55km highway is Tk100.12 crore Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka TribuneThe construction of the Pachchar-Bhanga part may take some additional time to complete, he added.
Echoing Obaidul Quader, Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary MAN Siddique said the project will be completed within the stipulated time unless any major crisis arises.
Inaugurated on November 17 last year, the project has made a significant headway. During a recent visit to the site, this correspondent found hundreds of workers, including army personnel, busy working with heavy construction instrument and large excavators, digging out soil for the leveling work along the existing road.
Shamsul Huq, a professor of civil engineering department at Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology, said: “Neighbouring countries like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have built expressways many years ago. Thought it is late, we are finally getting one.
“An expressway can save a huge amount of time, cut the number of accidents and provide a comfortable journey to passengers, thus contributing to the country’s economic growth. The important task will be the proper maintenance of such highways.”
He also observed that better transport service would help bring a qualitative change in the lifestyles of the southern districts’ people.
Meanwhile, the government has planned to upgrade the Dhaka-Chittagong highway into an expressway as well.