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Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport-Farmgate section of the much-hyped Dhaka Elevated Expressway Saturday.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has confirmed this after visiting the venue of a citizen rally to be held at the old trade fair ground on the occasion of the inauguration of Airport-Farmgate section of the elevated expressway which will open to traffic on Sunday.
However, three-wheelers, motorcycles and bicycles will not be allowed on the expressway.
The minister said, “The Dhaka Elevated Expressway is being built to ease traffic congestion in the capital. The work of the project is going on in full swing as 65 per cent of the work has been completed so far. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the first phase of the project on Saturday.”
Mentioning that the work of the second phase is also going on in full swing, he said that a significant progress has been made in the elevated expressway project. “We are optimistic about our goal to fully open the expressway to traffic by 2024.”
According to him, as the people of the southern region are getting benefits after the opening of Padma Bridge, the residents of Dhaka will also get similar benefits when the elevated expressway will be completed.
While talking about the metro rail project, he said that the construction work of metro rail has started from Uttara to Agargaon. “We are getting a lot of benefits from it. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the metro rail up to Motijheel on October 16. Then all commuters travelling on Uttara-Mirpur- Motijheel route will be able to enjoy benefits.”
The ministry has also given directions to use the elevated expressway. For southbound vehicles originating from Uttara, entry points to the elevated expressway include Kawla, Pragati Sarani, and Army Golf Club on Airport Road, with exit options at Banani Kamal Ataturk Avenue, Mohakhali Bus Terminal in front, and Indira Road near Farmgate.
Conversely, for northbound vehicles coming from the south, access to the expressway involves crossing both the north and south lanes of Bijoy Sarani overpass and Banani Railway Station. Exit points can be found in front of Mohakhali Bus Terminal, Banani Kamal Ataturk Avenue near Airport Road, Kuril Bishwa Road, and Airport 3rd Terminal area.
The total length of the elevated expressway, including ramps is 22.5 km. There are 15 ramps–--two at Airport, three at Kuril, four at Banani, three at Mohakhali, two at Bijoy Sarani and one at Farmgate. At present, 13 out of 15 ramps will initially be opened to traffic.
The expressway is being implemented in three phases under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) initiative. The first phase is from Kawla near Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to Banani Railway Station, the second phase from Banani Railway Station to Moghbazar railway crossing and the third phase from Moghbazar rail crossing to Kutubkhali on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway.
The construction process of the project started on January 19, 2011. The tenure of this project is estimated from July 2011 to June 2024. The cost of the project is estimated to be about Tk 8,940 crore, of which the government is providing Tk 2,413 crore.
