Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has finally decided to construct a separate Dhaka-Chittagong Expressway, and it has taken a Tk 169.89-billion project to facilitate its construction work, said officials concerned.
The officials said RHD is planning to build a 217.5-km "access-controlled" highway between Dhaka and Chittagong in a new alignment through public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement.
"The proposed mega project has been taken to facilitate the main expressway construction work through PPP initiative," said a senior RHD official.
The expressway will be built in parallel with the existing Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway.
"Soon after getting approval of the project, we will start land acquisition, utility shifting and other necessary works for building the separate highway to ensure speedy traffic movement on the corridor," he added.
According to RHD's plan, it will construct the 217.5-km road, where some portions will be "at-grade" (or on the surface) and some portions will be elevated.
The entire expressway will be a four-lane one. It will be fenced for controlling the traffic.
Meanwhile, RHD has conducted a feasibility study and prepared a detailed design of the planned infrastructure with the financial support of Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The RHD officials claimed that ADB has recommended a separate corridor for the proposed expressway besides the existing Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway.
An official of Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges said under the proposed project, RHD will mainly facilitate the PPP initiative for constructing the expressway through acquiring land and developing it as well as shifting utilities.
"If RHD completes the preliminary works, private sector will come forward to build the expressway between the port-city and the capital."
He said Dhaka-Chittagong highway is the country's economic backbone, as nearly 80 per cent foreign trade takes place through this way.
The RHD official said they will require acquiring 775 hectares of land for the planned expressway between Dhaka and Chittagong.
"Primarily, we will construct a four-lane expressway. It will have the options for being upgraded to a six-lane one in the future."
"After providing the proposed support to Dhaka-Chittagong Expressway project until 2023, we will engage private firms with the government through PPP arrangement for building the main road," he added.
RHD has already divided the main road construction work into three packages. The 84-km Dhaka-Comilla portion of the expressway is under package-1, the 52.8-km Comilla-Feni portion is under package-2, and 80.95-km Feni-Chittagong portion is under package-3.
