Dhaka Elevated Expressway taking shape after one decade

The much-awaited Dhaka Elevated Expressway has become visible at Shahjalal International Airport point, 10 years after the project commenced to provide a solution to the escalating traffic pressure.

However, the progress accounts for only 30.5 per cent of the entire project, according to the latest official report.

Project officials said that they were working to complete the rest 70 per cent of the project by July 2023 to open the country’s first-ever elevated expressway.

Under a public-private partnership project, the construction of the 46.73km-long expressway has been divided into three phases – first phase is 7.45km from Kawla (airport) to Banani; second phase is 5.85km from Banani Rail Gate to Moghbazar and third phase is 6.43km from Moghbazar to Kutubkhali.

To ease traffic inside the capital, the 19.73km-long main elevated mainline of the expressway will have 31 connecting ramps with a combined length of 27km.

Out of 30.5 per cent total progress, the first phase is now at 66.25 per cent complete, second phase 21.5 per cent, and the third phase 2.33 per cent.

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader announced that the 11km part of the expressway from the airport to Tejgaon would be inaugurated by December 2022.

Talking to The Business Post, transport experts said that it might be very challenging to complete the entire project by the July 2023 deadline, but the target was not unrealistic.

“The easiest part of the project was the first phase as the whole phase line over the rail line, the second phase is also on the rail line but some ramps of the phase have created complexity. But the third phase is the toughest part of the project because of land acquisition and alignment with Mayor Mohammad Hanif Flyover,” said Professor Shamsul Hoque of the civil engineering department of Buet.

He also suggested that project officials should identify and solve existing challenges as early as possible to speed up the project.

The government started the project in 2011, around the same time as the Padma Bridge, and set 2015 as the deadline. However, the construction did not start for several years.

Project officials said that the contractor for the project could not start the construction due to funding issues and delay by the government in vacating the project area due to various reasons.

Dhaka Elevated Expressway Project Director AHMS Akter told The Business Post that although the project began in 2011, the formal construction commencement date was in January 2020.

In the last 10 years, the project period was extended four times and the cost also increased 1.5 times to Tk 8,940 crore.

Expressing hope that the project will be complete within the next two years, he said, “If the construction firm fails to complete the project on time, the cost will go up.”

He also informed that over 4,000 workers were engaged in construction work, even amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The contractor will get a total of 25 years, which includes 3.5 years of construction period, to collect toll from the expressway.

The expressway will connect the south and eastern districts of the country setting north-south connectivity and linking important commercial and business centres, including Gazipur and Ashulia.

The four-lane expressway will have a minimum speed of 80km per hour, enabling vehicles to reach the airport from Chattogram road in just 15 minutes, down from four hours during peak time at present.

Once completed, 80,000 vehicles are expected to use the overhead road daily.

However, Buet professor and transport expert Md Hadiuzzaman said the Elevated Expressway project might not be able to give people relief from traffic congestions, which was the main goal of the project.

He said that the ramps of the expressway would create bottlenecks at intersections creating more traffic congestion inside the city.

He also criticised the delayed implementation of the project and blamed faulty feasibility study for failing to identify the challenges properly.

The project is being implemented by First Dhaka Elevated Expressway (FDEE) Company Ltd. Italian Thai Development Public Company Ltd owns 51 per cent of FDEE while China Shandong International Economic and Technical Co-operation Group owns 34 per cent, and Sinohydro Corporation Ltd owns 15 per cent.

China Exim Bank (EXIM) and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) are financing the mega project.