Staff Reporter :
Responding to the request of Bangladesh government, China has primarily agreed to finance a 224 km six-lane Dhaka-Chittagong elevated expressway, which will be the country’s largest ever costly infrastructure project.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader disclosed the matter on Wednesday after attending a meeting with three-member delegation led by Chinese Ambassador in Dhaka Ma Mingqiang at Setu Bhaban in the city.
It will take only 2-2.5 hours to travel between Dhaka and Chittagong after completion of the project at an approximated cost of Tk 70,000 crore. Currently, the largest infrastructure project is Padma Multipurpose Bridge which is being constructed at a cost of over Tk 28,000 crore.”We’ve thoroughly discussed the progress and execution of the contacts that were signed between the two countries during the recent visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping. The physical study of the elevated expressway project is going on for the second time with a cost of Taka 11,000 crore under the supervision of Bridges Division,” Obaidul Quader told the newsmen.” Terming the Dhaka-Chittagong highway as lifeline of country’s economy, he said, “Apart from existing EPZ, two more EPZs will be constructed in Chittagong. It will accelerate economic activities in this zone. To face the reality, the government has taken decision to construct the elevated expressway apparently to tackle the extra pressure on the highways.” Official sources said, the state-owned construction enterprise China Railway Construction Corporation [CRCC] Ltd had proposed to construct the expressway on a government-to-government or build-operate-transfer [BOT] basis.
Earlier on April 18, CRCC, one of the largest construction and engineering companies in the world, wrote Finance Minister AMA Muhith for funding expressway construction. However, it did not mention how much it had planned to invest in the mega project.
“We are pleased to offer full Chinese finance with low interest rates for execution of this high-priority project under the BOT basis, whichever the Bangladesh government deems fit,” the letter said. The Dhaka-Chittagong expressway might begin from Kanchpur, a key entry point to the capital, and end in Sitakunda on the outskirts of the port city. According to the sources in the Economic Relations Division [ERD], ADB is helping Bangladesh design the elevated expressway to boost trade and ease congestion on the existing highway linking these cities.
A 2013 Asian Development Bank [ADB] study shows that 90% of Bangladesh’s goods for export and import are transported through the Dhaka-Chittagong highway. Around 60% of the vehicles use the highway to carry goods while 27% transport passengers. Besides Dhaka-Chittagong elevated expressway, the Chinese government, in recent years, agreed to finance some largest infrastructure projects including Payra deep seaport, a single line dual-gauge railway track from Dohazari to Cox’s Bazar via Ramu and Ramu to Gundum near Myanmar border project, Dhaka-Chittagong railway chord line project, Padma rail link from Dhaka to Jessore and multi-lane road tunnel under the river Karnaphuli, according to the officials.
