Chattogram-Cox's Bazar expressway: Work likely to start this year
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Construction work of the 136km-long Chattogram-Cox's Bazar Expressway is likely to begin in the current year, official sources said.
The government will take decision soon regarding initiating work of the project to be implemented under Public Private Partnership (PPP) with Japan assistance.
Official sources said Development Project Proposal (DPP) for the six-lane 136-km long expressway has been submitted to the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges for approval.
Officials at the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) said the DPP has already been submitted to the ministry for approval.
The Bangladesh government has already proposed to Japan government to allocate fund for the project.
After positive response from the Japan government, RHD will go for implementation of the project very soon.
The feasibility study on the mega project was completed in April last year.
Findings of the study conducted by a team of experts from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) have already been reviewed by the Japanese authorities.
The study proposed to develop the 150-km highway from Chattogram to Cox's Bazar for constructing the expressway at a cost of Tk 420billion (Tk 42,000 crore).
It recommended two alternatives-one is developing the existing road into a six-lane one with two-lane on both sides for the low-speed vehicles and another is constructing a two-storey elevated expressway in the middle of the road.
The ministry will take decision soon on the proposals and the authorities will start the work at an estimated cost of Tk70billion (Tk 7,000 crore) in the current year.
The sources said Japan government has agreed to construct the expressway under Public Private Partnership (PPP) system.
A Japanese firm named Marubeni Corporation has proposed to take responsibility of the project work.
It may be mentioned that RHD had formulated a DPP for elevation of the Chattogram-Cox' Bazar highway to a four-lane one at a cost of Tk 130 billion (Tk13,000 crore) which was submitted to the ECNEC for approval in 2018.
But Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed the authorities concerned to take a project for construction of an expressway from Chattogram to Cox' Bazar instead of a four-lane road.
Accordingly, the Prime Minister's Office took the initiative to implement the scheme under PPP and had a feasibility study done by an expert team of BUET.