Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to visit Chittagong on Sunday, to inaugurate the much-awaited tunnel boring work under the Karnaphuli River.
“The prime minister is scheduled to inaugurate the tunnel boring work under the Karnaphuli River on February 24 (Sunday),” Harunur Rashid Chowdhury, project director of the Multilane Road Tunnel under River Karnaphuli, told the Dhaka Tribune on Friday.
After inaugurating the construction work for the tunnel, Sheikh Hasina will also lay the foundation for the elevated expressway.
The 16.5km long four-lane elevated expressway will be constructed from Lalkhan Bazar to Hazrat Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong.
Later, She will address a rally at the Patenga Sea Beach area.
The streets of Chittagong city have been adorned with colourful festoons, banners and placards for the prime minister’s visit.
Harunur informed that around 32% of the work for the mammoth project has already been completed.
“A tunnel boring machine (TBM) has already been procured from China.The machine can excavate tunnels in a circular cross section through a variety of soil and rock layers. It can bore through hard rock, sand, and almost anything in between,” he said.
Harunur also said: “The machine has been installed 19m underground. The test run of the capsule-like machine has been successfully completed as well.”
According to sources from the project, two separate tubes will be constructed under the river for vehicular movement. Each tube will be 10.8m in width, with two lanes in the two tubes. Each lane will be 3.66m in width, and the tunnel will be 3,400m long.
Siltation a major threat
Silt on the bed of the Karnaphuli River is a major threat to proper operational activities at Chittagong port.
To tackle the problem of siltation, the government has planned to construct a tunnel under the Karnaphuli, instead of building another bridge over the river, according to the feasibility study of the tunnel project.
Cost of the project
On November 24, 2015, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved the multi-lane road tunnel project under the Karnaphuli River at an estimated cost of Tk8,446 crore.
However, the project cost rose to Tk9,880 crore due to the increase in compensation cost for land acquisition.
The China Communication Construction Company will carry out the construction work for the tunnel.
Sheikh Hasina and Chinese President Xi Jinping laid the foundation stone for the colossal project on October 14, 2016. The construction work for the project commenced on December 5, 2017, and is likely to be completed by 2022.
