Dhaka Elevated Expressway project gains pace

Work of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway (DEE) has got momentum with majority of foreign experts and workers joining the project despite coronavirus pandemic.

Officials concerned said the Thai experts and workers, who left the country due to COVID-19 pandemic in March, have recently returned and speeded up the first phase work of the US$ 1.2-billion project.

Besides, the project's contractor - Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited - has finally overcome its financial crisis, nine years after signing contract to construct the DEE under public-private partnership (PPP).

The officials also said the company has received $55 million loan from various sources, and recently submitted the financial closure to the Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA).

Submission of financial closure was mandatory for the PPP project's concessionaire, which states sources of funding of the private partners to start counting 25-year concessionaire time.

Project Director A H M S Akter said construction work of the DEE first phase from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) to Banani in the capital has accelerated. Majority of its Thai experts have arrived in the country and joined their work after completing quarantine.

He further said first instalment of the Italian-Thai company's loan, amounting to $55 million, was released to it on March 30, and second phase work will begin soon.

According to the financial closure, the company is set to get $461 million from China Exim Bank, and $400 million from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, following signing of loan agreement last year.

The company has managed the fund after selling 49 per cent share of the DEE Development Company Limited to two Chinese companies. Now, China Shandong International Economic and Technical Corporation Group and Sino Hydro Corporation have 34 percent and 15 percent ownership respectively in the company.

The Italian-Thai concessionaire will enjoy 27 percent of the project cost as viability gap funding, which is provided to make the PPP model viable to private partners. A contract in this connection was also signed with the Ministry of Finance in this February.

The project director said progress of the project's first phase work is recorded 56 per cent until July, and the contractor has been trying to meet the deadline.

The 46.73-kilometre-long DEE was planned to be constructed under PPP in 2009 for easing traffic congestion in the city and bypassing highway traffic from the city.

The concessionaire agreement between the Italian-Thai company and the BBA was first signed in January 2011. But since then, the project has been facing various problems, including lack of financiers to invest in the project.

Later, the BBA signed fresh contract with the company in December 2013 after the government brought changes in the DEE's alignment design, cutting some important ramps.

The company has so far changed the project design several times to accommodate the DEE's planned route with other ongoing infrastructure projects, and finalised it recently.

Commencement of the DEE project with counting of concessionaire period finally started from April 1, 2018.

As per the revised deadline, the first phase work of the DEE from Airport to Banani rail-crossing has been set to be completed by this October.

Besides, the second phase work from Banani rail-crossing to Mogbazar has been set to be completed by October 2021, and the final phase work from Mogbazar to Kutubkhali on Dhaka-Chattogram Highway by October 2022.