Physical work to finally start after 5 years

The physical work of the Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway Project is finally set to start on Saturday, almost five months after the first work completion deadline expired.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to inaugurate the project’s construction work virtually from Ganabhaban at 10am on November 12. The project officials will be connected from the Ashulia Bazar construction site at Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka city.

This project was approved in 2017 and Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) hired China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation for the construction work in August of that year.

The actual project deadline expired in June this year but the authorities failed to even start the construction due to fund unavailability.

The deadline has been extended to June 2026 and the project cost increased by Tk 652 crore to Tk 17,553 crore. Of the amount, the Chinese contractor will get nearly Tk 11,000 crore for construction works. The rest of the money is for other related work.

The project authorities hope they will be able to maintain the extended deadline as the complexity of the Chinese loan has been solved.

Project Director Shahabuddin Khan told The Business Post that the Exim Bank of China started disbursing the loan on October 27 while the government disbursed the first instalment as mobilisation advance on September 27.

As the project’s construction works progress, the Chinese bank will bear 83 per cent of the total cost while the Bangladesh government will supply 17 per cent.

“As there is no problem with the money flow, there will be no barrier to implementing the project,” he said.

Shahabuddin said that they have nearly completed all pre-works, like finalising the design, test piling, soil investigation and machinery setup, that are needed to start the physical work. “I don’t think we will miss the revised deadline as these works are done and the contractor will start the construction right away.”

He said there are three Chinese subcontractors in the project that would make the work go smoother. The physical construction works will start from Dhour in Turag.

“We will start where the pilling works are scheduled to be done outside the main road. Before doing pilling works on the busy roads, we will have to divert the traffic,” said the official.

The project

According to the project documents, the Dhaka– Ashulia Elevated Expressway Project will minimise the existing traffic congestion in the northern part of Dhaka, more specifically in and around the Dhaka-Ashulia area.

The expressway will be a part of the Asian Highway route in Bangladesh and is vital for establishing an improved transport link on the trans-Asian highways.

The 24-km-long tolled expressway will start from the south of the Dhaka airport roundabout to approximately 2 km north of Baipail. Apart from the first 4 kilometres through where it will follow the railway tracks, the expressway will follow the existing main roads.

An integral part of the project is the connection to the now-under-construction 19.7-km-long Dhaka Elevated Expressway Project, which will run from the south of the airport roundabout to the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway at Kutubkhali.

These two expressways will allow vehicles from the northern districts to enter the Dhaka-Chattogram and Dhaka-Sylhet highways without mixing with Dhaka’s traffic flow.

The Dhaka– Ashulia Elevated Expressway will connect Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport with Abdullahpur, Ashulia, Baipail and Dhaka Export Processing Zone on the Nabinagar-Chandra road.