Dhaka Elevated Expressway is going to open up new possibilities for the country’s economic growth, increasing the traffic speed in the capital.
Transport experts and economists have expressed the opinion on Thursday on the eve of the opening of the much-anticipated expressway in the capital.
Transport engineering expert Dr Shamsul Hoque thinks that the partial commissioning of the expressway has a little impact to reduce hassle of traffic congestion in the capital.
“It’s early stage to assess the impact of the project. The intersections of the capital haven’t taken additional traffic at present. The expressway will increase movement of vehicles on the roads,” Dr Hoque, a civil engineering veteran at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), told the Daily Sun.
“However, with the partial commissioning Dhanmondi-bound people gets a relief from traffic congestion to move to the northern part of Dhaka,” he added.
Dr Shamsul Hoque, who works for the development of the strategic transport plan, said the expressway should have electronic payments system at toll plaza to avoid long queues or traffic congestions on the connected roads.
“We’ve constructed the 19.73km elevated expressway for enhancing productivity. If vehicles wait for riding on the expressway, it may slow the pace of mobility,” he added.
Policy Exchange Chairman Dr Masrur Reaz said any infrastructure like the expressway has a significant impact on economy.
“Vehicles move in Dhaka at a speed of five/six kilometres per hour on average. We lose a significant part of our working hours due to traffic congestion,” Dr Masrur, a former staff of the World Bank, told the Daily Sun.
“When the high-speed vehicles move on expressway, the pressure of traffic on roads may reduce. We need a comprehensive system to reap benefits from all communications structure in Dhaka as capital,” he also said. The First Dhaka Elevated Expressway (FDEE) Company is the investor of the project and Italian Thai Development Public Company has 51 percent shares while China Shandong International Economic and Technical Co-operation Group (CSI) has 34 percent and Sinohydro Corporation Ltd has 15 percent shares.
Another communication expert, Prof Hadiuzzaman, said that the opening of 11.5 kilometres expressway in first phase will reduce traffic pressure on the busy Farmgate-Banani road.
“The movement of heavy and high-speed vehicles on the expressway will boost the economic activities manyfold. The economy will get benefits in full-fledge when Dhaka expressway will connect Kutubkhali to Savar, an industrial hub with export-oriented industries,” Prof Hadiuzzaman of BUET told the Daily Sun.
The transport engineering expert has mentioned Dhaka expressway important for boosting communications with national highways in other parts of the country, including N-1 (Dhaka-Chattogram) and N-8 (Southern belt) when comes into operations in full length.
The high-speed vehicles can move from Farmgate area in Dhaka to Airport within 10 minutes moving over the 11.5 kilometre communication facility in four lanes.
