The construction of Mirsarai Economic Zone (MEZ) approach road from Chattogram-Dhaka highway would not be completed by June next as scheduled because of the slow pace of work.
The 10-kilometre road from Abu Torab on the highway to the country's largest EZ project of Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) is being constructed to facilitate transportation of goods to and from the zone.
The Roads Division of the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) is constructing the road at the cost of Tk 1.41 billion.
Sources at the division in Chattogram said the work of the four-lane road started in May 2016 and scheduled to be completed by June this year. The work will now take six more months to December 2019 to be completed.
Sources said that the development work of seven-km existing road has been completed and the new three-km is going on. It will have 18 new culverts and a one-km drain besides the road.
Sources said that 46 acres of land for the new section of the road have been handed over to the project officials recently and the land cost increased, resulting in the delay and rise in the project cost.
The project was undertaken by RHD following a request by the BEZA authority to facilitate smooth transportation of the products from the MEZ, said an engineer, requesting not to be named.
The economic zone has already drawn huge investment from the foreign and local entrepreneurs.
The huge area has also been brought under mass of greenery to maintain natural eco-system apart from facilitating water drainage system with broad internal road facility.
The MEZ is being developed on 30, 000 acres of land which were surfaced in Pirer Char, Sadhur Char, Shilpa Char and Char Mosharraf area under Mirsarai upazila. The huge mass of land was left abandoned for decades due to flood and high-tide water during the monsoon.
The MEZ is 69-km off the Chittagong Port and 79-km from the Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport. The MEZ, if commissioned, would generate huge employment for the local skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workforce alongside contributing to the country's export and gross domestic products (GDP).
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