Dhaka Elevated Expressway opens to traffic

ZOOMBANGLA DESK: A number of vehicles were seen taking the 11.5 km Airport-Farmgate stretch of Dhaka Elevated Expressway as it was opened to traffic at 6 am today.

It takes about 10 minutes for a vehicle to reach Farmgate from Kawla with a speed up to 60 km per hour.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on September 2, 2023 inaugurated the Airport-Farmgate segment of Dhaka Elevated Expressway after paying a Tk 2,000 toll for 25 vehicles in her motorcade.

This is the first project in the transport sector being implemented under public-private partnership (PPP) with foreign investment.

About 80,000 vehicles will be able to use Dhaka Elevated Expressway every day once it is completed, project officials said.

When fully completed, the Dhaka Elevated Expressway will run from the capital’s Kawla to Kutubkhali area of Dhaka-Chattogram highway via Kuril-Banani-Mohakhali-Tejgaon-Moghbazar-Kamalapur-Sayedabad-Jatrabari, according to Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader.

Tolls are being collected in four categories.

Private cars, microbuses (<16 seats) and mini-trucks (<3 tonnes) will have to pay Tk 80, medium-sized trucks (up to 6 wheels) and large trucks with more than 6 wheels will pay Tk 320 and Tk 400 respectively

Meanwhile, all buses and minibuses with 16 or more seats will have to pay Tk 160 to use the Kawla-Farmgate section of the expressway.

Motorcycles, bicycles and three-wheelers are not allowed to ply the expressway.

The Dhaka Elevated Expressway project was undertaken in 2011. On December 15, 2013, Bangladesh Bridge Authority signed a revised agreement with First Dhaka Elevated Expressway Company Limited, the investment company of the project.

The elevated expressway will serve as an alternative route from north to south of Dhaka. It will connect Hemayetpur-Kadamtali-Nimtoli-Sirajdikhan-Madanganj-Dhaka-Chattogram Highway-Madanpur directly. (UNB)