Dhaka-Ashulia Expressway facing so many challenges

Zarif Mahmud: Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway is being constructed with the aim of bypassing Dhaka city and reducing traffic congestion in the city. The construction of the second elevated expressway of Dhaka started on November 12 last year. Its construction progress has been 9.5 percent year-on-year. The expressway is expected to be constructed within the next three years. However, the stakeholders feel that there will be many challenges to complete this large project.
Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway will connect with Dhaka Elevated Expressway starting from Bypile EPZ. When these two elevated expressways are connected to each other, every vehicle will be able to travel directly from Qutubkhali in Jatrabari to EPZ in Bypile. The total distance of this expressway will be 44 km.
Recently, from the airport of the project area to Ashulia, the elevated expressway has been seen quite a bit. A number of piers are lined up in the Ashulia Embankment area. Casting of some pier caps has also been completed. Some piers also stand along the road from Abdullahpur to Dhaur. Overall, the progress of the construction work is lagging behind in terms of percentage, but it can be said that the project is standing up.
Till the 11th of this month, the work of 1,261 piles of Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway has been completed. 95 pile caps and beams have been completed. Apart from this, 48 pier columns have also been completed.
Those concerned say that the project work has to be taken forward by facing various challenges. The service lines of various service companies inside the project area have not yet been removed. As a result, there is a risk involved. On the other hand, the project authority has not yet received the construction yard from Dhaka Elevated Expressway. Due to these reasons, the work is slightly behind the target.
China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC) is working as the contractor in this project. The senior manager of the company, Gu Feng, said that there are many challenges to be dealt with here. Most of the project area has electric cables. Repeated attempts to remove them did not help. If the electricity facility is turned off, it will not be possible to work. Because of this, it is very difficult to work.
Expressway has its own religion, he said. It has to be kept straight for fast driving. The road on which the Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway will be constructed is very curvy. Underground service lines were also not removed. And getting the land for the project is another problem. Still a work in progress. Bypass roads are also being done in the places where it is necessary to maintain the traffic flow.
The original length of Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway is 24 km. It will have 14 ramps. The length of 14 ramps is 10.83 km. As part of the project, there is a 1.95 km flyover at Nabinagar and a 2.72 km bridge at Ashulia-Dhaur embankment. As a result of the bridge, there will be no more dams in Ashulia Bill. There will be no further obstruction to the flow of water in Turag River and Bill. The project area will have 14.28 km road and 18 km drainage-duct.
After the completion of the project, the Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway will be directly connected to the Asian Highway and create an opportunity for inter-country road communication. This project will connect Dhaka-Chittagong, Dhaka-Sylhet, Dhaka-Mymensingh, Dhaka-Jamalpur, Dhaka-Manikganj-Tentulia and Dhaka-Mawa-Barisal highways. Every vehicle has to pay a fixed rate of toll for using the flyover.
Project Director of Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway. Shahabuddin Khan told Daily Industry that the progress of the construction work has been reduced due to various difficulties. So far only progress of project work is 9.5 percent. The obstacles that we had to overcome in the last one year, we hope that those obstacles will not come again this year. We want to complete 25 percent of the work by June 2024. Relocation of service lines, removal of structures and removal of construction yard issues will speed up construction. Hope we can do the whole work within the stipulated time.
Dhaka’s second (Dhaka-Ashulia) elevated expressway is being constructed by Bangladesh Bridge Authority. The project was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in 2017. The project is being built at a cost of Tk 17,553.04 crore. It is scheduled to be completed in June 2026. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the construction of this project on November 12 last year.
Regarding the project, communication expert and Bangladesh University of Engineering (BUET) professor. Hadiuzzaman told Daily Industry that this elevated expressway will serve as a transformational infrastructure when it goes from Qutubkhali via the airport to Bypile. Then heavy vehicles will be able to cross Dhaka 24 hours a day without entering Dhaka.
He said that when the vehicles will bypass Dhaka vertically through the elevated expressway, the roads below will be much de-stressed. As a result, we will get a widened and congested road for public transport. But for that we have to wait till 2026-27.