Feasibility study completed, works likely to begin next yr

CHATTOGRAM, July 13: The appointed consultant SMEC has completed the feasibility study of the upgrading works of Dhaka-Chattogram Highway Project.

The Consultant has submitted their study report in June last, said Sabbir Hasan Khan, Additional Chief Engineer of RHD and also the Project Director.

He hoped that the works of the project might begin in June in 2026.
SMEC began their works in April in 2023. As per the contract, the farm will get Tk 44 crore for the tasks.
Meanwhile, Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) have been reviewing the Study report which is expected to be completed at the end of the current year.

The Consultant and the concerned authorities have now been working to prepare a detailed design of the Development Project Proposal (DPP).

The RHD sources said, the Road and Highways Department divided the 229km Dhaka-Chattogram National Highway into three parts, created three separate PDPPs and sent them to the Planning Commission - 38 km in Dhaka, Narayanganj and Munshiganj section, 125 km in Cumilla-Feni section and 69 km in Chattogram section.

RHD sources said that Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) are financing the project including several other donor agencies.

The RHD started working to determine where the road will have six lanes and where it will have ten-lane in Dhaka-Chattogram Highways.

Meanwhile in 2016, the Bangladesh Bridge Authority took an initiative to build an elevated expressway between the two cities. But the then prime minister in 2019 ordered cancellation of the expressway project.  

She preferred construction of service lanes on either side of the highway. As a result, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs formally scrapped the plan for the expressway in 2021.

Finally, a 231-km long Dhaka-Narayanganj-Cumilla-Feni-Chattogram route which would bring down the travel time from the capital to the port city to just 55-73 minutes has been approved.

Over 90 percent of Bangladesh's $130 billion foreign trade depends on Chattogram Port and the current four-lane Dhaka-Chattogram Highway.