2022: A critical milestone in Bangladesh’s infrastructure development

The year 2022 was glorious in terms of achieving targets to establish better mobility and smooth communication between the capital and different parts of the country while the metro rail was the latest golden feather added to the crown of many successes Bangladesh achieved.

A significant number of the large infrastructure projects Bangladesh had undertaken in the last few years were completed in 2022. Those have already started contributing to the communication system, which will help boost the country’s economy. The New Year will also see the inauguration of some other major development projects across the country.

Zahid Hussain, former lead economist at the World Bank’s Dhaka office, said infrastructural development is necessary for economic growth and Bangladesh is gradually achieving that.

“Now we need to use the potential to hit the economic target, which should include finding ways to effectively use the better transportation system. For example, we need to find ways to transport goods that would be fast and cost-effective,” he told The Business Post.

“When goods can be transported smoothly at low costs and people can move between places without hassles, it will obviously play a role in achieving the desired economic growth,” he explained.

In January 2022, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared that the year would be a milestone in Bangladesh’s infrastructure development. As part of that journey, Bangladesh went one big step forward in June when the premier inaugurated the biggest infrastructure in the country’s history, the much-awaited Padma Bridge. The bridge is now acting as an effective tool to change the economic landscape of 21 southern and southwestern districts.

In the same year, Bangladesh saw the maiden expressway from Dhaka to Faridpur’s Bhanga become fully operational.

The target of constructing the Padma Bridge included easing ways to establish mills and factories alongside food processing facilities in that region. The expectation was this would create huge employment opportunities for the local people. Another target was to boost the tourism business in the southern region.

The government estimated that the bridge would create 10 lakh new entrepreneurs in the next five years, and this number would triple within a decade. Besides, at least 500 new factories will be set up in the six districts of Barishal division alone in the next 10 years, which will add Tk 10,000-20,000 crore to the economy.

Moreover, poverty will be reduced in the southwest region by 1.01 per cent, which will in turn contribute to alleviating national poverty by 0.84 per cent. The bridge’s contribution to ensuring fast and smooth communication between the southwest region and other parts of the country, including the capital, led to all these expectations.

While inaugurating the Padma Bridge, the prime minister said the fortune of the people in the southern region would be brighter as mills and factories would be built there, which would generate many jobs. “We will be able to change the fate of at least 21 districts in the region.”

A decade after the World Bank withdrew financing citing corruption allegations, the self-funded Padma Bridge was finally built and inaugurated in the middle of the year. The year ended with the partial opening of metro rail in the capital, which is notorious for its traffic congestion and pollution.

That is not the end of the series of mega projects the country will see. The Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel under the Karnaphuli River in Chattogram will be opened to traffic this year.

The year will also see the completion of a rail line from Dohazari to Cox’s Bazar to facilitate direct train communication between Dhaka and the tourist town of Cox’s Bazar. Besides, a 20km metro rail route from Uttara to Motijheel in the capital will come into operation.

The partial opening of the MRT Line-6 of metro rail started a new era in Dhaka’s communication system. The prime minister inaugurated the project on December 28 last year, setting another milestone in the country’s history within six months of opening the Padma Bridge to traffic.

“We have added another feather of pride to the crown of Bangladesh’s people today. Another feather has been added to the crown of the development of Bangladesh,” she said after the inauguration.

She mentioned that the Bangladeshi people touched four milestones with the inauguration of metro rail.

“Firstly, the metro rail itself is a milestone. Secondly, the country entered the era of electric trains. Thirdly, metro rail will be operated remotely using a digital system. This will be used to implement our pledge to establish a smart Bangladesh and is the third milestone,” she explained.

Fourthly, she said, Bangladesh entered the era of speedy trains. “The highest speed of metro rail will be 110 kilometres per hour.”

“We will build six metro rail lines, which will be implemented by 2030. I think after implementing all the lines, Bangladeshi people’s employment scopes will increase. This will happen on top of metro rail’s contribution to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP),” Hasina added.

The government touched another milestone in road communication by inaugurating 100 bridges in a historic event in November last year. The bridges were constructed in 25 districts across the country at a cost of over Tk 879 crore.

“The biggest thing is that we can make the country’s development quicker with the inauguration of the 100 bridges,” Hasina said while opening the structures to traffic. She also hoped the transportation and marketing of goods would be quicker and easier because of the bridges.

The bridges established direct road connectivity with the capital as they made 33 ferry routes optional. This will make road communication with Dhaka smooth, quicker, easier, and safer. Of the bridges, 46 are in Chattogram, 17 in Sylhet, 14 in Barishal, seven each in Dhaka and Rajshahi, six in Mymensingh, and three in Rangpur.

Apart from these, several other major bridges were opened. The Modhumoti Bridge, locally known as Kalna Bridge, in Narail and Bir Muktijoddha AKM Nasim Osman 3rd Shitalakhhya Bridge in Narayanganj were opened to traffic in October.

The Kalna Bridge is the first-ever six-lane bridge in the country that filled the last missing link of the Asian Highway-1 route and cut the travelling distance between Dhaka and Jashore significantly. This is also the biggest Nielsen-Lohse arch-type steel bridge in the country.

The 3rd Shitalakhhya Bridge established a direct road link between Narayanganj city and Bandar upazila, creating connectivity between two major national highways – Dhaka-Chattogram and Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga-Barishal-Patuakhali.

Besides, in September, the premier inaugurated the 1,493-metre Bangamata Begum Fazilatun Nesa Mujib 8th Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge over the Kacha River at Bekutia in Pirojpur. With the opening of the bridge, the dreams of millions in the country’s southwestern region materialised as it established direct road connectivity between Khulna and Barishal divisions.

These three bridges under separate projects were built at a cost of around Tk 2,500 crore by the Roads and Highways Department.

Furthermore, the prime minister in November opened 100 roads and highways having a combined length of 2,021.56 kilometres in 50 districts. She said during the inauguration, “It is a gift from me to the nation in the month of victory.”

Most of these roads were either constructed or developed in eight divisions. Of the 100 roads and highways, 99 were constructed with government funds.

The remaining one was a four-lane 70km highway from Gazipur’s Joydebpur to Tangail’s Elenga, which was built at a cost of Tk 6,168.83 crore, with the fund coming from the Asian Development Bank, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and Abu Dhabi Fund for Development.

The partial completion of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel was another big achievement for the nation in 2022. The prime minister officially announced the completion of the tunnel’s south side on November 26 while 99 per cent of the work on the northern end has already been finished.

This is the first under-river tunnel in South Asia, which is expected to contribute 0.166 per cent to Bangladesh’s economic growth by boosting employment, tourism, and industrialisation. It is expected to also greatly improve the traffic situation in Chattogram.

According to project sources, two 5.35km approach roads are being constructed on the eastern and western sides of the tunnel. The length of the tunnel is 3.32km, and it is being constructed at a depth of 18 to 31 metres under the Karnaphuli River.

It is being built at a cost of Tk 10,374 crore. The project has joint financing from the governments of Bangladesh and China on a government-to-government (G2G) basis.

The Karnaphuli River divides Chattogram into two parts. The tunnel, being built as per the “One City, Two Towns” model like Shanghai in China, will connect the port city to Anwara upazila.

In January last year, the longest bridge in the Chittagong Hill Tracts over the Chengi River in Rangamati was inaugurated. The 500-metre-long and 10.2-metre-wide bridge in Naniarchar upazila was constructed by the Bangladesh Army at a cost of around Tk 227 crore.

It was built to improve communication between Rangamati and other districts, facilitate trade, and also make it easier to market products, the prime minister said while inaugurating the project.

The year 2023 will bring good news for travellers as the third terminal of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport is scheduled to be launched. Once launched, the terminal will double the airport’s annual passenger and cargo handling capacities.

The terminal is being constructed on 5,42,000 square metres of land and will have 115 check-in counters as well as 64 departure and 64 arrival immigration desks.