48-km Dhaka Bypass to open in Dec
Rafiq Hasan
Dhaka Bypass will be opened for traffic from December to enable the vehicles from outside Dhaka and bound for Chittagong and Sylhet to avoid the snarl-ups of the capital.According to sources, the 48-kilometer road will be helpful especially for the vehicles from Greater Mymensingh and 16 northern districts to bypass the city centre and go to Chittagong and Sylhet without hassles. Communications Minister Nazmul Huda yesterday paid a sudden visit to a construction site of the road and observed the progress of the work. The ministry has taken up the project in addition to the proposed Eastern Bypass as an immediate remedy to the heavily burdened roads in the capital, the source said. Huda said after the opening of the road, the pressure of vehicles on the city streets would come down significantly. Besides, the freight trucks, which are not allowed to enter the city during daytime, would have an access to the capital at all times. The Dhaka bypass project, which will cost an estimated Tk 283 crore, was taken up in January 2002. The minister was told that the construction of a bridge over the River Sitalakkhya on Kanchon part of the road is also nearing completion. The 445-meter-long bridge will cost Tk 77 crore to build. Besides, the construction work of other smaller bridges and culverts on the bypass is also making fast progress. The bypass, which would be a four-lane highway with divider in the middle, starts at Joydevepur and stretches till Chittagong Highway at Madanpur, connecting the Sylhet National Highway, said sources. The construction work has suffered several setbacks as the finance ministry on a number of occasions had blocked the disbursements of fund following allegations of excess expenditure. At first, the cost of the project was estimated to be around Tk 90 crore. But amid objections from the finance ministry it rose to Tk 283 crore. A high-powered committee comprising the officials of the planning ministry had investigated the reasons behind the soaring expenses. It found that the cost went up because the road was being constructed with four lanes instead of two lanes of the original plan. The committee found the ballooning cost reasonable and recommended resuming release of the funds.
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