CHATTOGRAM: Almost 93 per cent of the construction work of 'Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel' under Karnaphuli river in Chattogram has been completed.
Already the government appointed a Chinese company as its operator.
The tunnel, built at a cost of Tk 103.84 billion, will be the first under-river tunnel in the country which will directly connect Chittagong port with South Chattogram and Cox's Bazar.
The 25th meeting of the Cabinet Committee for Government Purchase (CCGP) held in the first week of the current month approved the proposal to appoint China Communication Construction Company (CCCC), a Chinese state-owned company as a service provider and toll collector and also an operator of the tunnel for the next five years.
The CCCC will pay Tk 9.83 billion to the Bangladesh government for five years. The CCCC also constructed the tunnel.
Officials related to the project expressed the hope that the tunnel would be fully ready to open to traffic by the end of this year.
Sources said, the total length of the tunnel will be around 9.092 kilometres including 3.40 kilometres under the Karnaphuli River with an approach road of 4.89 kilometres alongside 740 metres of bridges linking the main port city and western side of the Karnaphuli along with the heavy industry-prone eastern side of the river.
The multilane tunnel route passes through the river close to Navy College on one side and Korean Export Processing Zone (KEPZ) and Karnaphuli Fertilizer Company (KAFCO) on the other side.
The tunnel will connect Chittagong port and Anwara Upazila and is expected to make communication between Chattogram and Cox's Bazar easier.
It will also ease traffic congestion on two bridges over the Karnaphuli River.
Project Director Harunur Rashid hopes that the construction work of the tunnel project would be completed before schedule.
nazim07@yahoo.com