Road Transport and Railways Minister Sheikh Rabiul Alam has said that the construction of the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway six-lane upgrade project will be completed and opened for traffic by June 2029.
He made this statement in response to questions from reporters after inspecting the progress of the construction work of the Dhaka-Sylhet highway in the Shashai area of Bijoynagar upazila of Brahmanbaria on Saturday, September 19.
The minister said, Dhaka-Sylhet Highway is a very important road in the country. Although the project to upgrade it to six lanes was taken up long ago, its progress was not satisfactory even in four and a half years. After taking charge, the current government has taken various steps to implement the project quickly.
He said that due to the necessary steps taken in the last six months, the progress of land acquisition has reached about 56 percent. It is expected that 100 percent land acquisition will be completed within the next two months. At the same time, the progress of physical work of the project is about 27 percent.
Sheikh Rabiul Alam said that the work is being taken forward by overcoming the deviations and obstacles in the implementation of the project. Although the progress of work on five of the 13 packages of the highway is unsatisfactory, the work on the remaining eight packages is progressing satisfactorily. According to the tender, the goal is to complete the construction work and open the highway to the public by June 2029.
He further said that although the progress of the project is currently satisfactory, there is some public suffering due to the construction work. As the desired progress in the project has not been made for a long time, the work has to be taken forward quickly. Land acquisition was one of the biggest problems of the project, but it is now on the way to being resolved. Efforts are being made to strengthen the work in those areas where the progress of physical work is not satisfactory.
At that time, officials related to the project were present with the minister.