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Published on February 16, 2016
The government has forced to revise the project due to various obstacles such as unavailability earth and acquisition of land.
The approval came at the 21st meeting of the ECNEC in the current fiscal held at the NEC conference room on Tuesday in the city's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar with ECNEC chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
"There was a need to acquire some areas freshly while unavailability of earth was one of the physical constraints of this project which also led to the increase of project timeframe and cost," said Planning Minister A H M Mustafa Kamal while briefing the newsmen on the outcome of the meeting.
He said this important project from the very beginning had faced various obstacles and now it would be possible to complete project by this year.
The revision of the Daudkandi-Chittagong portion would require additional cost of Taka 626 crore that would push the overall cost to Taka 3,816 crore while the implementation tenure has been extended to December 2016.
The planning minister said the ECNEC cleared a total of nine development projects with an outlay of Taka 4,961 crore.
"Of the total project cost, the government would provide Taka 4,945 crore from the national exchequer while the organization concerned would contribute the remaining Taka 16.33 crore from own fund," he added.
He informed eight projects are new while one is revised project among the approved projects.
In 2006, the government had approved the Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane project, to be completed by June 2012, involving Taka 2,168 crore from Daudkandi toll plaza to Chittagong city gate with a four-lane highway length of 192.30 kilometer.
Later, the project was revised for the first time, increasing the cost to Taka 2,382 crore in 2009 due to the correction of the profile of the project and changes in its cross-sectional design.
In March 2013, the ECNEC revised the project for the 2nd time, hiking the cost to Taka 3,190 crore, with the aim to complete it by December 2014.
The other projects approved by ECNEC are: Establishment of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Novo Theatre, Rajshahi with Tk 222 crore, Establishment of 12 barracks at various units of Bangladesh Police with Tk 219.17 crore, construction of some 456 flats for the government officials and employees at Malibagh in Dhaka with Tk 194.69 crore, construction of some 288 residential flats for the officials and employees of Department of Public Works at Mirpur section-6 with Tk 120.14 crore, development of roads, drains and footpaths of Comilla City Corporation with Tk 81.66 crore, Renovation of water supply system at Rajshahi metropolis with Tk 67.50 crore, Construction of 282.558 meter long PC girder bridge over River Banar on Mymensingh-Gafargaon- Tok road with Tk 43.71 crore and Development of Faridpur (Maizkandi)-Boalmari-Gopalganj (Bhatiapara) road including development of Sosrail-Alafdanga road development with Tk 195.58 crore.
Ministers and State Ministers attended the meeting while Planning Commission members and secretaries concerned were present.
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