Ecnec Meeting Today: 2 projects worth Tk 19,353cr may get go-ahead
With less than three months remaining of its tenure, the government has decided to take up two large projects worth Tk 19,353 crore to connect the country's tourist town Cox's Bazar and Matarbari seaport with Chattogram.
The two projects are expected to be placed at today's meeting of the Executive Committee on the National Economic Council to be chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The phase-1 of the Chattogram-Cox's Bazar highway improvement project will cost Tk 8,556 crore while converting the Chattogram-Dohazari metre-gauge railway into dual-gauge will cost Tk 10,797 crore.
The total project cost for the Chattogram-Cox's Bazar four-lane project has been fixed based on a feasibility study conducted under the guidance of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica). Of the project cost, Jica will provide Tk 5,709 crore.
Under the project, the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) will build 23.52 km of bypass roads and a flyover on Chattogram-Cox's Bazar highway to eliminate bottlenecks in five towns.
In the first phase, there will be a 5.4-kilometre Patiya bypass, 3.3km Dohazari bypass, 5.1km Lohagara bypass, 6.8km Chakaria bypass and 3.5km Keranihat flyover.
The bypasses will be four lanes with a 2.5-metre-wide breakdown lane on each side. The flyover will be six lanes.
The government is working on a two-pronged approach to improve the traffic flow on the Chattogram-Cox's Bazar highway as congestion and crashes are becoming increasingly common due to heavy traffic, according to RHD officials.
The highway needs to be rid of all bottlenecks in the next few years because the number of vehicles will significantly rise once the Matarbari deep sea port in Maheshkhali comes into operation in 2026.
Later, another project will be implemented to improve the remaining stretch of the 130 km Chattogram-Cox's Bazar highway into four lanes, the officials added.
The Asian Development Bank will provide Tk 7,085 crore out of the total cost of Tk 10,797 crore for the project to convert the Chattogram-Dohazari metre-gauge railway into dual-gauge.
The Dhaka-Cox's Bazar rail line via Chattogram is likely to be inaugurated on November 12 by Hasina, but the rail connectivity between the capital and the tourist district may not be smooth.
The dilapidated Kalurghat bridge and the poor state of a 52km section of the railway from Chattogram to Dohazari are communication bottlenecks.
To mitigate the situation, Bangladesh Railway is to take up projects for building a new bridge and improving the Chattogram-Dohazari section for completion by 2028.
As a result, although the Dhaka-Cox's Bazar rail line via Chattogram will be inaugurated next month, its full benefit will not be achieved until 2028.
As the metre-gauge railway is gradually losing relevance, it is imperative to turn the country's railway into dual-gauge, said Muinul Islam, a former professor at the University of Chittagong's economics department.
Expanding the existing two-lane highway to a four-lane is necessary for smooth connectivity between Cox's Bazar and Chattogram, he added.
Besides the two projects, about 50 new and revised projects are likely to be placed at today's Ecnec meeting.
Asked about the high volume of proposals, a planning ministry official said since no Ecnec meeting was held in six weeks, lots of proposals have built up.
The last Ecnec meeting was held on September 12.
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