Ecnec approves Tk 3,250cr expressway for Ctg airport

A 16.5-kilometre elevated expressway connecting Hazrat Shah Amanat International Airport with Lalkhan Bazar-Muradpur flyover has been approved for Chittagong city.

The four-lane expressway with a price tag of Tk 3,250 crore was approved yesterday by the Ecnec (Executive Committee of the National Economic Council) in a bid to ease traffic congestion and reduce travel time to and from the airport in the country's second largest city. 

As part of this project, by 2020, the under construction flyover from Muradpur to Lalkhan Bazar will be extended upto the airport, explained a planning ministry official.

The planning ministry in its proposal argued for the new expressway by mentioning that around 40 lakh people now live in Chittagong -- the country's prime export-import hub. With nearly one lakh inhabitants being added to the population each year, the city's traffic situation is worsening day by day. 

Meanwhile, during yesterday's meeting, the Ecnec turned down a proposal for the development of Jagannath University (JnU) in the capital.  

Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal following the meeting said while presiding over the meeting, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, chairperson of the Ecnec, issued a directive asking to build a complete campus for the JnU at Keraniganj near the capital with all necessary amenities including residential halls. 

Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power, energy and mineral resources, was given a week for the task of finding and informing the planning ministry of a suitable piece of land at Keraniganj for the JnU campus, said a planning ministry official.

The Ecnec yesterday gave its nod to a total of nine projects -- including the elevated expressway in Chittagong -- worth Tk 6,393 crores.