Dhaka-Sylhet Highway: Two joint ventures selected for expansion project

Roads and Highways Department (RHD) yesterday appointed two China-Bangladesh joint ventures, comprising three firms, for the Dhaka-Sylhet highway expansion project, as physical work is expected to start in December.

The two ventures have been selected for one of the six packages under the Tk 16,918.59-crore project for turning the 210-km highway into a four-lane one, with service lanes on both sides, say officials.

RHD signed separate contracts with the joint ventures at a city hotel yesterday.

A joint venture of Longjian Road and Bridge Company Ltd of China and Max Infrastructure Ltd of Bangladesh will work on an 18-km part of the highway, which stretches from Kanchpur intersection to Chanpara Bus Stand.

It will get Tk 925.36 crore to complete physical work within four years, according to the contract.

Another joint venture of China's Zhengzhou City Highway Engineering Corporation Ltd and Max Infrastructure Ltd will carry out work on a 17-km, from Chanpara to Narsingdi BSCIC area, at a cost of Tk 1,394.66 crore. This will be funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB). It will have to finish physical work in four years.

In February last year, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved the project, setting December 2026 as the deadline.

The authorities decided to implement the project under six packages and hire 13 contractors for quick implementation.

The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase on September 14 approved proposals for appointing two contractors for the first package.

Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary ABM Amin Ullah Nuri; Edimon Ginting, ADB country director; Project Director AK Mohammad Fazlul Karim, among others, spoke at the programme, while RHD Chief Engineer AKM Manir Hossain Pathan as in the chair.