Sources said the government has obtained a Technical Assistance grant from Kuwait Fund for Economic Development, which will cover the cost of feasibility study, detailed engineering design and preparation for tender documents of the two new flyovers.

Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) will implement the project with consultancy services from The Associated Engineering Partnership, Kuwait, STUP Consultants P. Ltd, India and Bangladesh Consultants Ltd (BCL).

The study and design of the project will cost US$ 607,071 whereas the construction cost of the flyovers will be determined later by the LGED.

Meanwhile, the Mohakhali and Khilgaon flyovers are nearing completion and likely to be open for traffic very soon. Mohakhali flyover is scheduled to be opened on November 7 while Khilgaon flyover in December, LGED sources said.

"Flyovers are meant to divide fast and slow vehicular traffic automatically," said Robert E Rickman, team leader of the consultants for Moghbazar and Mouchak flyovers, explaining the importance of flyovers in a city with congested roads.

According to LGED's large bridge/culvert project director office, the pre-construction work for the flyovers has been divided into two phases.

Phase-I, which will take four and a half months, methodologically refers to the tasks required to complete the technical and economic feasibility study of the project and preliminary designs of the flyovers.

Detailed engineering design and preparation for tender documents of the project in phase-II will take seven and a half months.

After the study, two final designs will be chosen from 12 alternatives for Moghbazar and Mouchak intersection flyovers. The Planning Commission will examine the designs and then submit them to foreign ministry for seeking foreign grants.

LGED officials hope the Kuwait Fund, which is funding the feasibility study, will also assist in the construction phase if they are satisfied with the design and study.

According to the project director's office, the costliest of the 12 alternative designs will involve about Tk 400 crore and the cheapest will cost about Tk 80 crore.

LGED officials said the flyovers would be designed through landscaping of the project sites. The landscaping will help avoid traffic congestion in the construction phase.

To improve the transport infrastructures and services in Dhaka metropolitan area and ease the prevailing chaotic traffic condition, the government undertook the Dhaka Urban Transport Project (DUTP) funded by multilateral donor agencies.

In the first phase of a feasibility study undertaken by DUTP, 20 locations have been prioritised for flyover construction or improving lanes with signalisation.

The project consultants say rapid growth of the population in Dhaka city resulted in a massive increase in vehicular traffic to meet the growing transport demand. The city experiences traffic congestion at almost every road intersections.

The congestion is mainly due to excessive number of motorised and non-motorised vehicular traffic that has far exceeded the capacity of the available road infrastructure facilities in the city. The new flyovers will solve the problems, the consultants hope.