10-km Ctg Expressway opens in May

CHATTOGRAM, Dec 30: The 10 km long Elevated Expressway from Airport to Nimtala will be opened for traffic movement in May next year.
Engineer Mahfuzur Rahman Project Director told the Daily Observer that nearly 72 per cent of the project had so far been completed.
The rest 6.5 kilometre of the Expressway will be completed in June 2024 next, Mahfuzur Rahman said.
The Chattogram Development Authority (CDA) has taken up the project, elevated expressway for Port City to ease the existing traffic congestion to facilitate smooth communication with 16.5 -kilometre route running from the historic Lalkhan Bazaar to the Shah Amanat International Airport.
He said, a Chinese company named Max-Rankin Joint Venture was tasked with the responsibility to complete the construction of the project.  The Expressway is expected to ease traffic congestion in the city and reduce travel time to and from the airport. Presently it takes two to three hours from Airport to the city. With the completion of the project, it will take only 30 minutes to cross the distance.  According to CDA sources, the construction works of the elevated expressway is being delayed as Bangladesh Railway has not yet allotted the required land for the project, resulting in city dwellers suffering.
Mahfuzur Rahman, project director said, the land of 300 metre long from Dewanhat to Tigerpass owned by the Bangladesh Railway. But the authority did not yet allotted the land to the Project management that had been delaying the constrcution of the Expressway.
"We are unable to start the project from Dewanhat to Lalkhan Bazar due to the delay in the allocation of land from the BR. We are not being allocated the land by BR despite repeated requests," said Mahfuzur Rahman. The updated cost of the project is Taka 4,298.95 crore, and the deadline has been shifted to June 2024, after two extensions.
The 16.5 km elevated expressway will be a four-lane path with a total width of 16.5 metres. It will have 24 ramps at nine points from Lalkhan Bazar to the airport. With the ramps, the total length of the expressway will be 28.5 km.
The ramps will facilitate entry and exit at Tigerpass, Agrabad, Barik Building, Nimtala Biswa Road, customs area, CEPZ, Karnaphuli EPZ, Katghar area, the sea-beach and airport intersections.