Cost Tk 8,703cr
Construction of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway will begin within the next six months with a target to complete it within three and a half years, according to a concession agreement signed yesterday.
Bangladesh Bridges Authority (BBA) signed the agreement with Italian-Thailand Development Public Company Ltd (Ital-Thai Company) for building the expressway at a cost of Tk 8,703 crore.
Secretary of the Bridges Division of the Communications Ministry Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and President of the company Tremchai Karnasuta signed the deal on behalf of their respective sides at a ceremony at Hotel Sonargaon.
“We will try to begin the construction in March to make sure it completes in three years,” Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain told journalists after the ceremony.
The Ital-Thai Company, through this contract, has been awarded the task of building the expressway from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to Kutubkhali on Dhaka-Chittagong highway under public-private partnership (PPP).
The main expressway will be 21-kilometre long. Its total length, however, will be 26 kilometres due to inclusion of two link roads in it. There will be 35 ramps (entry and exit points) in it.
Under the 25-year concession agreement, the concessionaire has to complete the project in three and a half years from the date of issuance of the work order. The order will be issued soon.
If the constructor fails to complete the work by the stipulated time, it has to pay a liquidity damage of $50,000 per day from the next day of the deadline.
Contrarily, the government has to hand over 30 percent of the project land to the company within a maximum of six months and 35 percent each in the next two years.
Failing to hand over the land timely, the government will pay the company a compensation of $ 10,000 per day.
In case of delay caused by litigation, both the parties will take the next course through negotiation.
BBA sources said 60 percent of the expressway land is ready while the rest (from Golapbagh to Kutubkhali) will have to be acquired.
As per the deal, 50 percent of construction materials and expertise will be had from local market.
Advisers to the prime minister HT Imam and Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, President of Thailand Trade Kiat Sittheeamorn, Deputy Minister of Thailand’s Trade Affairs Ministry Alonkorn Ponlaboot, Communications Secretary Mozammel Haq Khan and Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury attended the signing ceremony.
