Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader yesterday said the entire Dhaka Elevated Expressway will be opened to traffic early next year.

"It may not be possible [to open the entire expressway] within this year. We are hoping to do so early next year," he said while speaking at the programme organised to inaugurate the exit ramp of the expressway at the FDC Gate near Karwan Bazar.

"This is an Eid gift for city dwellers from the prime minister," Quader said about yesterday's inauguration.

The ramp was opened to traffic at 2:00pm, Project Director AHMS Akhtar told this correspondent.

The 11.5km section from the Airport area to Farmgate of the long-delayed expressway project was inaugurated on September 3 last year, giving some respite to city-dwellers from traffic congestion.

But, experts said, people will not get the full benefit of the Public Private Partnership Project unless the entire 19.73km expressway from Airport to Kutubkhali on the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway is opened.

When part of the expressway was opened last year, the authorities said the rest would be opened within June this year.

The project has seen 72.51 percent overall progress till now, forcing authorities to change the deadline

— Project officials

But the project has seen 72.51 percent overall progress till now, forcing authorities to change the deadline, officials said.

The expressway's construction work was inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in April 2011 and was supposed to end by mid-2024.

In January 2011, Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) signed a deal with Italian-Thai Development Public Company to build the expressway at a cost of Tk 8,703 crore.

The deal was revised and inked again in December 2013, with the cost revised to Tk 8,940 crore after bringing several changes to the design. The government will give Tk 2,413 crore (27 percent) as viability gap funding, while the private partner will bear the rest.

Besides, the government is to spend Tk 4917.57 crore on land acquisition, resettlement, and relocation of utility service lines, meaning the total cost of the project is Tk 13,857.57 crore.

However, the construction formally commenced on January 1, 2020, mainly due to uncertainty over funding and delay in land acquisition.

Asked about media reports regarding funding complexities, Quader rejected it. "How are the works going on if there are complexities over funding?" he said.

BRT TO BE OPERATIONAL BY DECEMBER

Meanwhile, Quader said they will start operation of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) services between Dhaka's Airport and Gazipur this year.

He said they will open several overpasses of the project soon, and buses for the service will arrive within December.

"We will start the service in full fledge from December," he said, blaming contractors' negligence for the project's long delay.

The project, formally known as Greater Dhaka Sustainable Urban Transport Project, was originally planned to be implemented between November 2012 and December 2016 at a cost of Tk 2,037.9 crore.

The delay was caused by issues relating to land acquisition, relocation of utility services, design changes, contractors running out of money, and the pandemic. Moreover, physical work was suspended twice.

As a result, the total project cost is now estimated to be Tk 4,268.3 crore, and the deadline is December 2024.