The government will construct the second elevated expressway in Chittagong to ease traffic congestion in the southeastern port city by 2020, officials said Thursday.
They said the Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) has undertaken the Tk 32.57 billion project to construct the 16.5-kilometre long elevated expressway from Lalkhan Bazar to Shah Amanat Airport of the city.
This will be the second elevated expressway project after the 21-km Dhaka Elevated Expressway (DEE) which is to be constructed by a Thai company Ital-Thai on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) basis.
But the DEE project has hit snags as Ital-Thai company has failed to mobilise necessary funds.  
"We recently sent a development project proposal to the Planning Commission for getting its approval. The CDA will start the construction of the expressway soon after getting endorsement from the Commission," said a senior Public Works ministry official.
The proposed expressway will connect the existing 6.8-kilometre flyover stretched between Muradpur Gate-2 to Lalkhan Bazar in the port city, he added.
The ministry official said the expressway will reduce traffic jams and cut travel time between the airport and the port city.
A CDA official said they followed the CDA Master Plan 1995 and planned to build the expressway for making traffic movement smoother and easier.
Some 24 ramps will be built for the expressway,
A PC official said they are scrutinising the proposal before placing it to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).
If they find it viable, they will place it for getting approval from the government's highest economic policy-making body, he added.
Meanwhile, construction of the country's first elevated expressway on Shahjalal International Airport-Kuril-Banani-Mohakhali-Tejgaon-Moghbazar-Kamalapur-Saidabad-Jatabari-Dhaka-Chittagong Highway (near Kutubkhali) route is struggling for years due to fund crisis and inefficiency of the implementing authorities.
The Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) recently sought four more years and 53 per cent higher fund for building the Dhaka Elevated Expressway (DEE).
The BBA has proposed to raise the cost to Tk 48.85 billion from the current Tk 32 billion and sought four more years up to December 2020 from the current timeline of December 2016 to complete the project.
Officials said the BBA and Ital-Thai Development PLC signed the US$1.2 billion agreement in January 2011 for construction of the expressway. But the company is yet to begin the main work of the DEE.
An official said even after five years of the deal, the Thai company has failed to mobilise necessary funds for work on the 21-kilometre Airport-Kutubkhali expressway.
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Source: The Financial Express