Dhaka Bypass Road upgrade project gets Tk84.64 crore support from ECNEC

The Dhaka Bypass Road project has received the revised support of Tk84.64 crore which was approved by ECNEC on 22 June 2021.

This amount will be spent mainly on land acquisition, rehabilitation and consultancy.

The Roads and Highways Department signed a concessionary agreement with a Chinese-Bangladesh Consortium Sichuan Road and Bridge Corporation, Shamim Enterprise and UDC Corporation (SRBG-SEL-UDC) to upgrade the Dhaka Bypass Road under a public-private partnership agreement on 6 December 2018.

The up-gradation and construction of the Dhaka Bypass under the pipeline of the Public-Private Partnership Authority will stretch from Joydebpur-Debgram-Bhulta-Modonpur.

The ceremony of the project took place on 26 December 2019.

At a meeting of the Department of Roads and Highways held on March 3, 2021, the project company reported that the construction work is underway with a target of 10% physical progress by 30 June 2021.

Based on the PPP agreement, loan agreements have been signed between financial institutions and private partners to finance the project. The project is now in the Condition Precedent stage. The consortium announced that the financial closure will be soon be completed.

The construction timeline of the 48 km long expressway project is three years. The project, built entirely with private funding, will be managed and operated by a private partner with a 25-year contract.

Relevant work including the construction work is being carried out by the Consortium Dhaka Bypass Expressway Development Company Ltd after overcoming the initial hurdles of the Covid-19 pandemic.

There is no provision for an increase in the cost of the original PPP project after the agreement.

The project is expected to reduce traffic congestion inside Dhaka city and establish road connectivity with safe and modern facilities which will play a significant role in increasing the overall trade and commerce of the country.