Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga Expressway: Roads ministry forms committee to set toll

The roads, transport, and bridges ministry yesterday formed a 16-member committee to finalise the toll for Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga Expressway after Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has placed a proposal in this regard.

As per the RHD's proposal, a private car and bus have to pay Tk 278 and Tk 999 respectively for using the first expressway in the country, excluding the toll he or she has to pay for Padma Bridge, now under construction.

Led by Abu Sayed Sheikh, an additional secretary of Road Transport and Highway Division, the 16-member committee was asked to submit its report within 25 working days, Fahmida Haque Khan, deputy secretary (toll and axle) of the division, said.

The committee will have representatives of transport associations, finance ministry, RHD, Consumer Association of Bangladesh and several other agencies, said Fahmida, who will serve as the member secretary of the committee.

Before the committee's formation, Sabuj Uddin Khan, additional chief engineer (Dhaka zone) of RHD, placed the toll proposal before the stakeholders meeting held at the ministry yesterday with the division's secretary Nazrul Islam in the chair.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in March last year inaugurated the 55km four-lane highway, with a service lane on both sides.

Users will get full benefits of the expressway once construction work of Padma Bridge is completed, which is expected to be opened in June next year and the toll of the expressway will be collected starting then, officials said.

Apart from the expressway, commuters have to pay toll for using Padma Bridge. The authority has not finalised the toll for the bridge yet.

Sheikh Hasina during an Ecnec meeting in September 2019 instructed the authorities concerned to collect tolls from long-haul vehicles on the national highways.

PROPOSED TOLL

RHD prepared the proposed toll structure for the expressway following the Toll Policy-2014, an RHD official said. There would be four exit and entrance points and RHD proposed toll ceilings for each distance.

Under the policy, the base toll is Tk 2 on each kilometre on important highways and Tk 400 for a bridge above 750 metres.

With three bridges and 55km length, the base fare of a medium truck (two axle truck) per km would be Tk 20.18. A medium size truck has to pay Tk 1,110 for using the expressway.

The committee will scrutinise all relevant factors before finalising the toll rate, Fahmida said.

Khondaker Enayet Ullah, secretary general of Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association, who was present at the meeting, said the proposed toll rate is very high.

"We have asked to keep the rate at tolerable level, because ultimately the people who will use the highway will have to pay the toll," he told The Daily Star yesterday.

Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury, secretary general of Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, also asked the authorities to keep the people interest in mind while setting the toll rate.