Tk 1,742cr deals signed with eight companies
The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) yesterday signed three separate contracts worth Tk 1,742.74 crore with eight foreign and local companies over a Dhaka-Sylhet highway expansion project.
Toma Construction & Company, a local entity, and Turkish company ENEZ were awarded a Tk 896.81 crore contract.
They will expand a 14.10-kilometre (km) stretch from Sherpur Bridge Toll Plaza to Khashikapan Bazar in Sylhet and carry out other related work.
Sinohydro Engineering Bureau 8 Corporation was awarded a Tk 576.05 crore contract.
The Chinese firm will expand a 11.10km stretch from Khashikapan Bazar to 7th Armed Police Battalion Headquarters and carry out other related work.
The contractors will get four years to complete the work. There will be a one-year defect liability period and then they will provide performance-based maintenance services for six more years.
The RHD signed another Tk 269.88 crore contract with a joint venture firm for design review, construction supervision and social and environmental safety monitoring.
The entity comprises Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats Pvt of India, IRD Engineering of Italy and Sheladia Associates, Inc of the US.
The joint venture will work in association with subcontractors M/s Associates for Development Services and KS Consultants of Bangladesh.
They will provide their services for five years for Tk 269.88 crore.
The RHD is implementing the Tk 16,918.59-crore project to turn the 210km Dhaka-Sylhet highway into four lanes by adding a service lane on each side.
Asian Development Bank will provide Tk 13,244.68 crore, its biggest portfolio for the transport sector in Asia, said the project director, AK Mohammad Fazlul Karim, at the signing ceremony.
The deadline of the project is December 2026. The authorities decided to conduct the implementation under six packages and hire 13 contractors for quick execution.
They have already signed contracts with two Bangladesh-China joint ventures to implement the first package. Physical works are expected to start in January next year.
RHD Chief Engineer AKM Manir Hossain Pathan chaired the signing ceremony at a city hotel where Additional Project Director ABM Sertajur Rahman gave a presentation on different aspects of the project.
ABM Amin Ullah Nuri, secretary to Road Transport and Highways Division, Mustafa Osman Turan, Turkish ambassador to Bangladesh, Edimon Ginting, ADB country director, and, among others, spoke at the programme.
The Dhaka-Sylhet highway connects the Sylhet division with the capital and Chattogram.
However, the existing two-lane highway from Narayanganj's Kanchpur to Sylhet is turning out to be inadequate in dealing with a growing number of vehicles, often leading to traffic congestion and road crashes.
Besides, several economic zones are going to be established centring the highway, which will ultimately increase economic growth.
Moreover, the highway is a part of Asian Highway-1, which connects Meghalaya with West Bengal of India via Tamabil-Sylhet-Dhaka-Narail-Jashore.
The government has taken up a separate project to turn the Sylhet-Tamabil Highway into four lanes.
Comments