Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway: Will be open to public in 2026
Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway, the second such expressway centring Dhaka, will be open to public in June 2026, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said yesterday.
The minister set the new deadline after inaugurating the 24-kilometre expressway's pilot pile-boring of "static load test" at a programme in Dhaour on the outskirts of the capital.
The project's physical work started yesterday, four years after approval of the plan. The project's original deadline was June 2022.
Once built, it will connect Hazrat Shahjahal International Airport with Abdullahpur, Ashulia, Baipail, and Dhaka Export Processing Zone on Nabinagar-Chandra highway.
It will work as an extension of the under-construction Dhaka Elevated Expressway, which will stretch from Airport to Kutubkhali on Dhaka-Chattogram highway and will facilitate quick entry and exit of vehicles to and from Dhaka.
The government approved the Tk 16,901 crore project in October 2017, and it is being implemented under a government-to-government initiative with China, which will provide 65 percent of the cost as a loan.
But the project could not progress due to delay in loan approval by Chinese EXIM Bank.
Quader yesterday said there are no fund-related problems now.
Project officials said Chinese EXIM Bank approved the long-delayed loan of USD 1.2 billion, or Tk 10,226.53 crore, for the expressway in November last year, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave the go-ahead to the draft loan agreement early this month.
Asked whether the delay would raise the cost, the minister said: "We are yet to get any cost revision proposal."
Quader directed project authorities to take necessary measures, so project work does not lead to people suffering, pointing to the scenario centring Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.
The government is implementing BRT, a dedicated bus line between Dhaka airport to Gazipur, but project work has been causing severe traffic congestion.
The minister said he has cancelled the extension plan of BRT in the city, considering the possible suffering of Dhaka city dwellers.
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