Dhaka-Ctg highway widening project faces further delay

The widening of the country's prime highway along Dhaka-Chattogram corridor is unlikely to begin soon, as the over Tk 700 billion project has not been included into the next year's Annual Development Programme despite being considered a priority.

Sources said the Dhaka-Chattogram highway widening project, on which a fresh study has been going on under a technical project since 2023, will require another year to start due to failure to complete detailed design and prepare the Development Project Proposal (DPP). The tenure of technical project is expected to increase by another six months.

Analysts and transport experts noted that nine years have already elapsed since the inauguration of the country's vital corridor into four-lane in 2016, but no progress has been made to upgrade the Dhaka-Chattogram highway into an expressway

Despite taking move to develop over 200-km corridor expressway in 2018, the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) could not utilize time due to political reasons.

The previous Awami League government prioritized a costly high-speed train project, which sidelined the road infrastructure development project although there was a crying need for it from both passengers and freight transport.

The RHD, however, revived the expressway project in 2022 and launched a fresh feasibility study after the government faced harsh criticism for giving priority on the high-speed train project, estimated to cost over USD 10 billion following a feasibility study.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Railway preferred development of cord line and introducing electric train on the corridor at almost one third of the high-speed train's estimated cost.

The RHD had a plan to complete the detailed design of the Dhaka-Chattogram widening project by June this year, with the initial cost estimated at Tk 732 billion. Officials, however, said it was not final.

The interim study report proposed to make the corridor into six-lane access-controlled highway with three-lane in each side and two-lane service roads on both sides. Construction was initially scheduled to begin by December this year.

As part of the plan, six-lane elevated road from Madanpur-Kantchpur and at Padua Bazar and Feni, among others, will be constructed for uninterrupted movement of vehicles. The RHD's bridge wing also studied an elevated solution on the economic lifeline which would be constructed after the Kantchpur Bridge for smooth movement of traffic of Dhaka-Chattogram, Dhaka-Sylhet and Sylhet-Chattogram corridor.

The first Dhaka-Chattogram four-lane project was launched in 2004 and finished in 2016, with costs escalating from Tk 16 billion to TK 38 billion. Due to a lack of feasibility study and proper design, all the highway users had faced inconvenience during the long period of construction.

Analysts apprehend that traffic gridlock which has already turned severe is likely to deteriorate as traffic increased by 31 per cent last year since 2019 within the two important cities of Chattogram and Dhaka. According to RHD data, daily traffic movement on the Dhaka-Chattogram corridor was recorded at 35,482 in 2019 which rose to 46,501 in 2024.

The RHD has also been implementing a Tk 10 billion project to carry out maintenance work on the highway as its damage cannot be managed within the department's regular maintenance budget which it said due to high traffic and overloaded vehicles.

As the interim government is very cautious about approving any high-cost projects, the project approval will take more time, likely until a new political government is formed.

The total length of Dhaka-Chattogram highway is 229 km, measured from the end of the Kantchpur Bridge to Chattogram gate.

smunima@yahoo.com