DHAKA, June 11, 2020 (BSS) – Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal
today proposed Taka 29,442 crore for Road Transport and Highways
Division in the budget for 2020-21 fiscal.
A total of Tk 29,274 crore proposed budget was announced for the
division in the last 2019-2020 fiscal while Tk 28,050 was kept in the
revised budget, said the finance minister while placing the national
budget session at the Jatiya Sangsad here.
“The government has laid emphasis on creating a coordinated
communication network by making a massive investment in the country’s
overall communication infrastructure comprising roads, bridges,
railways, water-ways and airways,” Kamal said.
He said, “It is important to ensure that we have a modern, safe and
environment-friendly transportation and communication infrastructure
to transform Bangladesh into a developed nation by 2041.”
The government is implementing a bunch of projects for upgrading
one thousand 140 kilometers of the country’s important regional
highways to appropriate standard and width, and upgrading district
highways to appropriate standard to improve the national transport
system and establish a standard infrastructure for road communication,
he added.
Besides, he said, as part of the plan to upgrade national highways
throughout the country into four or more lanes, the up-gradation work
of the Elenga-Hatikumrul highway into a four-lane road with service
lanes on both sides is underway.
“Physical progress in the SASEC Road Connectivity Project to
connect Bangladesh with regional and international transport networks
is 75.48 percent,” said the finance minister.
The government, he said, has completed the construction of the
first expressway of the country, an uninterrupted four-lane road with
service lanes on both sides, stretching from Jatrabari intersection in
Dhaka to Maoa and from Pachhor to Bhanga, and opened it for regular
traffic.
“In FY 2020-21, we will commence work for upgrading the
Dhaka-Sylhet highway into four-lane with service lanes on both sides
and the Rangpur-Burimari highway and Sylhet-Tamabil highway into
four-lanes, and will also commence work for constructing a bridge over
the Mongla channel and the Kewatkhali bridge over the Brahmaputra
river in Mymenshing,” he added.
He said, “We have been implementing the Revised Strategic Transport
Plan (2015-2035) to create a planned and coordinated modern public
transport system in and around the Dhaka city and adjacent areas.”
Under this, construction of Bangladesh’s first metro rail network
(MRT Line-6) from Uttara to Motijheel and bus rapid transit (BRT
Line-3) from Hazrat Shah Jalal International Airport to Gazipur are
progressing fast, he added.
Kamal said main construction work for implementing two more metro
rail networks (MRT Lines-1 and 6) will commence in the next fiscal
year.
Besides, he said, steps have been taken to mark two thousand 550
kilometers of highways, and remove eye-sight barriers or trees in the
intersections of 1,950 kilometers of highways to ensure road safety.
The government has declared 22ndOctober as the ‘National Safe Road
Day’ to create public awareness on road safety, he added.
To establish an integrated and uninterrupted communication network
in the country, the finance minister said, many large projects,
including the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel under the
Karnaphuli river, the Dhaka Elevated Expressway from Hazrat Shah Jalal
International Airport to Kutubkhali in Dhaka-Chattogram Highway, are
being implemented.
“Construction of the Padma Bridge with our own financing is
progressing fast. The works of Maoa and Janjira connecting roads and
Service Area-2 have already been completed,” he said.
Overall physical progress of the Padma Bridge project up to
February 2020 is 78.0 percent; 4.5 kilometer of the bridge has so far
become visible, he said, adding that 51 percent of construction work
of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel has already been
completed.
Besides, Kamal said, construction work of the 24-kilometer
Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway is expected to begin soon.
“There is a plan to carry out a Feasibility Study to construct
tunnel under the Jamuna river connecting Gaibandha and Jamalpur
districts,” he said.
The finance minister said feasibility studies were carried out to
construct five large bridges in the southern part of the country over
the Payra river in Patuakhali-Amtali-Barguna road, the Meghna river in
Bhulta-Araihazar-Nabinagar road, the Tetulia and Kalabadar rivers to
connect the Barishal district with the Bhola district, and the
Bishkhali river in Barguna-Patharghata road, and efforts are being
made to get finance for their construction.