Monirul Alam of DOT
A consortium of three companies, one from China and two others from Bangladesh, has been engaged for the 48-km Dhaka Bypass Expressway project under the PPP (Public Private Partnership) module.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) will act as the financial advisor to the transaction required for the project. The development was confirmed yesterday after all stakeholders signed agreements at the Roads and Bridge Division office in Dhaka.
The “concession contract” awarded to the consortium consisting of Sichuan Road and Bridge Group of China, and Shamim Enterprise Ltd and UDC Construction Limited of Bangladesh, said an ADB statement.
The consortium will design, build, finance, operate and maintain the tolled expressway over a 25-year concession period and will be able to charge tolls based on the types of vehicles. Bangladesh government will offer viability gap funding of 3.1 billion taka and a minimum revenue guarantee to the consortium to optimise the project costs. The contract also provides the government a share of revenues generated by the consortium over a certain threshold.
Under the contract, a four-lane tollway and a two-lane service road will also be added to the Joydevpur–Debogram–Bhulta–Madanpur Road (N-105) section of the expressway.
The project will provide a major arterial connection between the industrial zone northeast of Dhaka and national highway N1 connecting to Chattogram, as well as to N2, N3, and N4 highways leading to other major cities.
“This project brings a new dimension to public service delivery in Bangladesh. It is the first access-controlled expressway in the country,” said Syed Afsor H. Uddin, Chief Executive Officer of PPP Authority.
He said this landmark project will pave the way for a pipeline of national expressways across the country.
“….The Dhaka Bypass is the first step in our strategy to bring Bangladesh roads to the global market based on the PPP model,” said Yoji Morishita, Head of ADB’s Office of Public–Private Partnership (OPPP).
Subbed: Sayeed Muhammad