TDS Desk:

The long-awaited elevated expressway, spanning 15.2 kilometres, was inaugurated hurriedly on November 14 last year, leaving the work of entry and exit ramps unfinished. It was inaugurated with high hopes of reducing congestion and expediting travel across the city.

Despite the anticipated benefits, the expressway has not generated any revenue in one year because the authorities have been unable to establish a toll collection system.

It left the megastructure, the second most expensive infrastructure development project in the city, without a financial return for the first year.

Last year, the project was inaugurated at the end of the third term of the now-deposed dictatorial Awami League government. It was said then that the project would be opened partially to traffic after the inauguration.

However, following its inauguration, traffic was restricted, citing the absence of essential security features, such as CCTV cameras and lighting, needed for safe operation.

Although closed to vehicles since opening, the expressway was finally opened on an experimental basis after nine months, in August this year.

Since then, a significant volume of vehicles has been using the infrastructure every day free of charge.

Due to the unfinished ramps, vehicles now can access the expressway from Patenga, Bahoddarhat, Sholoshahar Gate 2 and Lalkhah Bazar points and get down in the Patenga, Tigerpass and Lalkhan Bazar points.

The feasibility study conducted in 2015 revealed that 54,895 motorised and non-motorised vehicles used the main thoroughfare daily.

The study projected that this figure would surge to 229,242 vehicles in 2049 through the thoroughfare, over which the expressway has been developed to cope with the increasing traffic pressure.

The study anticipated a daily traffic volume of 77,401 vehicles, comprising 37,551 cars and three-wheelers, 5,537 motorcycles, 4,798 minibuses and pickups, 3,228 buses and 4,438 trucks in 2024.

Civil society representatives observed that if the megastructure had been opened partially after the

inauguration with a toll collection system, a substantial number of the vehicles travelling to and from the airport and Patenga areas would have used it, generating revenue for the government.

However, although it was opened in August, it remains toll-free, and the government is yet to earn from the megastructure, they said.

They attributed this revenue loss to callousness, corruption, lack of accountability and negligence regarding stakeholders’ opinions.

Sources in the implementing agency, Chattogram Development Authority (CDA), said the CDA proposed toll tariff for 12 types of vehicles, including bikes and CNG-run auto-rickshaws in a review meeting held on 12 February this year at the Ministry of Housing and Public Works.

Allowing bikes, trailers, CNG-run autorickshaws, and toll-free access for the vehicles of law enforcement agencies and the administration on the expressway drew a negative response from the then secretary of the ministry Kazi Wasi Uddin.

The meeting finally decided a flat toll rate for any distance of the expressway, but CDA could not begin toll collection then as no government order was issued.

On 24 September, the ministry also held a review meeting on the same issue. CDA in the meeting emphasised distance-based toll rates, allowing bike and CNG-run auto-rickshaws, and fixing the tariff considering the reality.

At the meeting, Ministry of Housing and Public Works Secretary Md Hamidur Rahman Khan suggested resending the proposal to the ministry with realistic tariffs. Moreover, directives were given to start agency appointment processes for providing services.

Following the decisions, the CDA discussed with the newly formed board on 28 October and decided to reduce toll amounts and postpone the construction of five ramps.

The proposal was sent to the ministry last week.

Project Director (PD) and the CDA Executive Engineer Mahfuzur Rahman told the Daily Sun that they have already developed toll plazas at the entry and exit points at the Patenga end of the expressway.

However, toll collection could not start as the government did not issue the required order after the February review meeting, he added.

“We will start the toll collection as soon as we receive the necessary approval from the ministry,” he said.

PD Mahfuz also said that work on five out of 14 ramps is going on.

He expected to get the work on ramps done by the deadline set for June next year.

Sacheton Nagorik Committee Chattogram President Advocate Akhtar Kabir Chowdhury said construction of the elevated expressway has drawn huge criticism since the beginning.

“The project witnessed changes in design and extension of the deadline midway, which increased the project cost. Besides, construction of five out of 14 ramps has been postponed recently,” he said.

Inaugurated one year ago, the authorities could not establish the toll collection system till now, said Chowdhury.

“All these failures indicate clear callousness of the authority to create scope for corruption due to lack of accountability,” he added.

The project aimed at smooth communication between the Chattogram city and south Chattogram districts and upazilas, reducing distance and expense in the city and easing movement to and from the Chattogram Port and Chattogram Shah Amanat International Airport.

This project promises to reduce travel time from the city centre to the airport to a mere 15 minutes, a significant improvement from the current one and a half hours.

The CDA is implementing the expressway at Tk4,298 crore. Though the initial project cost was Tk3,250 crore, it was enhanced later.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council greenlit the government-funded project in July 2017. The project was revised in 2022 increasing the cost and the deadline from June 2024 to June 2025.

The 15.2-km elevated expressway will be a four-lane one with a width of 16.5 metres.