BDRunner, March 20:- The 1.5 km long down ramp of Dhaka Elevated Expressway from Tejgaon to FDC Gate has been launched. This is Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Eid gift to the city dwellers.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister and Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader said this at the opening ceremony of the down ramp adjacent to FDC Gate in Tejgaon of the capital on Wednesday morning.
He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the project at the beginning of next year.
Obaidul Quader said that the total length of the project is 19.73 km from Kawla of the airport, via Banani, Farmgate, Kamalapur to Qutubkhali on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, the total length of the project including the ramp is 46.73 km. The total cost is 8 thousand 940 crores. At present the progress of the project is 72.51 percent.
In response to reporters’ questions about the progress, the Minister of Road Transport and Bridges said that work progress should not be questioned. Day and night work is going on. We have done Padma Setu Metrorail Elevated Expressway. There are also some complications in the global situation. There are discussions about this with the countries involved in these projects. We have to negotiate with them regularly. In the current context of the world, there are some problems in importing machinery. Our projects are being delayed unintentionally – that’s not right.
Are there any complications with financing the project? Obaidul Quader said in response to such questions, how can the work be done if there are complications in funding?
Regarding the traffic jam in Dhaka during Ramadan, he said, there is no traffic jam after Iftar. There are traffic jams during the month of fasting. Not always. All our plans to solve the traffic jam have not yet been implemented. Metro rail from Uttara to Motijheel is saving time and money. Five more metro lines are left. Both are in progress. Once these are done we will get a positive result.
Later, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader opened the traffic from Tejgaon to the down ramp adjacent to the FDC gate. At this time, Secretary of Road Transport and Highways Department ABM Aminullah Noori, Secretary of Bridges Department. Manjur Hossain and senior officials were present.
