Tk 10,000cr loss a year for delay in Dhaka-Ctg highway upgrade: DCCI

The economy is suffering a loss of Tk 10,000 crore a year due to delays in upgrading the Dhaka-Chittagong highway to four lanes from the exiting two lanes, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry said yesterday.

A delegation of the chamber led by its President Hossain Khaled met Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the ministry.

At the meeting, the minister said work on the Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Mymensingh highway will be complete in the next six months.

Gas and electricity crises have to be solved and land has to be made available, which are preconditions to increasing investment in the country, the team told the minister.

If these are addressed, new industries will be set up that will generate more employment, the trade body said.

The minister said the BSCIC industrial city will be established at every district and all necessary infrastructure facilities will be provided there.

Kamal also said they have a plan to create 1.32 crore jobs in the next five years, for which the government and the private sector need to work in unison.

The minister said the annual development spending is slashed every year, and it has primarily been estimated that the ADP to be reduced to Tk 72,000 crore this year.

The size of the original ADP is Tk 80,314 crore, he added.

Kamal said the revised ADP will be finalised at the National Economic Council meeting on March 10. The figure may cross that of the primary estimate, he said.