The traffic movement at the country's widest and most attractive highway Purbachal 300 feet Expressway started but people of the Northern, North-East, South-East and Eastern districts are not getting the facility of the expressway due to the narrow Asian Highway bypass.

Vehicles cross the 12km long expressway at high speed in just 8-9 minutes. But due to the narrow Asian Highway bypass at the East end of the expressway, it takes 1.5 to 2 hours to cross the 8 km road from Kanchan Bridge to Bhulta of Narayanganj, creating immense suffering to the tens of thousands of people daily. 

Shahana Ferdous, executive engineer of the Roads and Highways Department in  Narayanganj told Bangladesh Pratidin that works on the Asian Highway bypass began.

“The Asian Highway bypass will be a four-lane expressway. It is part of the Dhaka Bypass Project and the country's first PPP (Public Private Partnership) project in road connectivity. Project concerned can tell in detail,” she said.

A four-lane expressway named ‘Dhaka Bypass’ was supposed to be launched this year to get the full benefits of the 300 feet expressway. The 48 km long expressway will connect Madanpur in Narayanganj from Joydevpur in Gazipur via   Asian Highway. It will connect the North, North-East and West region of the country with Chattogram port. Capital Dhaka will also be connected on the road through 300 feet expressway.

If the project is implemented, vehicles will be able to move from the Eastern region to the Northern region without entering Dhaka city.

According to the project papers, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader inaugurated the construction work of this project in December 2019. The work was scheduled to be completed within three years. But that work started in May this year and will end in 2025.

As a result, although the 300 feet expressway will be fully operational within this year, the dream of the residents of the North, North-East and South-East of the country including Narayanganj, Rupganj, Gazipur, Narsingdi, Sylhet, Chattogram, Kishoreganj and other parts of the country to enter in the capital is still elusive.

On Thursday last, a huge traffic gridlock was seen in the Asian Highway bypass started 2 kilometres from the Kanchan Bridge toll plaza.

Abdur Rob, a truck driver stuck in that traffic said, “There is always traffic on this road for an hour or two. Vehicles from different districts enter the road to reach Gazipur and Dhaka.

Contacted, Dhaka Bypass project director (Support to Joydevpur-Debgram-Bhulta-Madanpur Road), said, there are many types of conditions in a PPP project. Works on the project have started this year after resolving such conditions.  

Dhaka is the most densely populated city in the world. It has about 20 million people living in 306 square kilometres. Millions of working hours of city dwellers are being wasted daily in traffic. As part of decentralisation to make Dhaka more livable, the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) launched the Purbachal project.  

For easy movement in the Purbachal project and connecting many regions of the country, the government started the work of the widest 300 feet expressway.

Now, vehicles are crossing the expressway at a speed of 80 to 100 km per hour. But the wheels of all the vehicles stop after crossing the expressway.

Drivers and passengers hope that the project concerned will launch an alternative route during construction work of the project as soon as possible to keep the normal movement on the Asian Highway bypass.

@ The article was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on October 22, 2022 and has been rewritten in English by Tanvir Raihan and Golam Rosul.