Korean firm gets nod to collect tolls of Mawa expressway

The government on Wednesday gave its nod to appoint Korea Expressway Corporation to oversee the Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga expressway, collect tolls and operate its intelligent transportation system for five years.

The approval came from a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase, with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair, on Wednesday, Cabinet Division Additional Secretary Md Zillur Rahman Chowdhury told the media.  

The corporation will be paid Tk71.7 crore for the maintenance work of the expressway – officially known as Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Highway – at the two ends of the newly-built Padma bridge. 

The additional secretary said expressway users have to pay tolls at the government-fixed rates from 25 June, the much-awaited day when the Padma Bridge will be inaugurated and opened to traffic. 

When asked whether the toll would be a burden for passengers as the tolls fixed for the Padma Bridge are already higher than those on ferries, the additional secretary said it can be discussed after determining the tolls for the expressway. "Value of time and comfort of passengers will be taken into account," he added. 

Earlier in August last year, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in-principal approved the appointment of Korea Expressway Corporation for the tasks.

Then Cabinet Division Additional Secretary Md Shamsul Arefin said the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) had been funding the project to install the intelligent transportation system, also known as ITS, on the expressway to facilitate toll collection from the three bridges, including the multipurpose Padma Bridge. 

He noted that the Korea Expressway Corporation would work as a service provider for the operation and maintenance of the ITS, where revenue collection would be fully automatic. The vehicle's GPRS system would be utilised in the automatic toll collection system.

Installing the ITS is a part of the project titled "Improving the reliability and safety on national highway corridors of Bangladesh" which aims to make the road transport infrastructure safer, reliable, and sustainable; use ICT for better, efficient and effective traffic management; and enhance the institutional capacity of RHD for road and traffic management.

Officials said the KOICA has been supporting the government with $8.9 million for the establishment of the ITS master plan, architecture and standard, implementation of the pilot project and capacity building of relevant government bodies.