Land costs push up the price tag of the Dhaka-Chittagong Expressway

Ballooning land acquisition costs are pushing up the cost of the proposed 217km Dhaka-Chittagong Expressway, according to media reports. Under the project, the highways directorate has already widened 190km of the two-lane highway to four-lanes and constructed three flyovers. The sources also said now the agency has estimated the cost for constructing the full 217km at nearly US$2.4 billion without land acquisition cost.
August 23, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Ballooning land acquisition costs are pushing up the cost of the proposed 217km Dhaka-Chittagong Expressway, according to media reports.


Under the project, the highways directorate has already widened 190km of the two-lane highway to four-lanes and constructed three flyovers.

The sources also said now the agency has estimated the cost for constructing the full 217km at nearly US$2.4 billion without land acquisition cost.

They said the nine times higher cost has been estimated for the expressway project on the same highway mainly to acquire land for it.

Project office sources said an additional $1.62 billion will be required for the public-private partnership project to acquire 775 hectares of land and shift utilities shifting work, which was not required for the four-lane widening project. Most of the land across the entire corridor of the four-lane project was acquired in 1960s, the Financial Express said.

Meanwhile, badly planned and positioned flyovers are being blamed for holding up construction of Dhaka’s planned 22km bus rapid transit system. Only around 10km of the six-lane project – two central lanes exclusively for buses – are likely to be built and not until 2024, transport officials are reported to have said.

The 22km route starts at the airport and will end in the port area of Keraniganj. The trip takes about three hours by car but would take around half an hour by bus rapid transit.

Finance & Funding

Related Content

  • Kenya moves ahead with double-decker road to address costly city traffic jams
    December 11, 2013
    New double deck roads could cut congestion in Kenyan capital Nairobi – Shem Oirere reports Arapid increase in urban population and diminishing land for infrastructure expansion has forced Kenya to devise ways of addressing the worsening human and vehicular traffic problems in its capital Nairobi. The country national highways agency recently announced progress in the planned construction of the country’s first double-decker highway.
    Read More
  • India’s longest tolled expressway is open to traffic
    January 2, 2013
    Earlier this year, a new expressway was opened to traffic in India, adding connectivity to the country’s road network - Mike Woof reports. India’s economic growth has fuelled a massive construction boom in the country. Road building has been set as a priority by the Indian Government to help ensure continued economic development and improve connectivity between major population centres. One major new expressway has recently opened to traffic, having been designed to international standards and provides insi
    Read More
  • VIDEO: It’s a bird? It’s a plane? No, it’s a…..bus!
    May 27, 2016
    It’s not a new idea, the straddle bus. It dates back to the 1960s. But if a prototype bus in a pilot project in China is successful, highway engineers working on urban roads may have to throw out their design templates. Recent Chinese reports have said a prototype is being built in the city of Chengzou for a pilot project being set up on the streets of Qinhuangdao, a coastal city about 300km east of Beijing, by the end of this summer. The bus’s main body glides above the road surface at 60kph on a
    Read More
  • Causeway and immersed road for LagoonHull
    December 1, 2021
    The agency proposing the UK’s LagoonHull project says it’s development and construction costs could be between €1.2-2.4 billion.
    Read More

Highlighted Content