PM opens Jatrabari flyover

Jatrabari flyover

This Star file photo shows a portion of the 10-kilometre long Jatrabari flyover which was named after former city Mayor Mohammad Hanif. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina opened the longest flyover of the country to public in the capital on Friday.

The much-awaited 10-kilometre Jatrabari flyover in the capital opened to the public Friday over three years after its construction work began.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the flyover at Shanir Akhra point near Dhaka-Chittagong highway around 3:50pm.

Named after former Dhaka city mayor Mohammad Hanif, the flyover is expected to make road connectivity between 32 southeastern districts and the capital faster.

The PM is scheduled to address an inaugural ceremony of the flyover at the Osmani Memorial Hall later in the afternoon.

The 5.5-km long main flyover stretches from Dhaka-Chittagong highway (Kutubkhali) to Nimtoli through Jatrabari, Sayedabad, Kaptanbazar and Gulistan.

People will be able to use the up and down-ramps at Shanir Akhra and Chankharpool and one up-ramp at Motijheel, project officials said.

But the up and down-ramps at Janapath, Sayedabad and Dhaka-Mawa road will take four more months to complete as those sites were still occupied illegally, they added.

The Tk 2300 crore flyover is being constructed on a build, own, operate and transfer basis by the concessionaire, Belhasa Accom and Associates Ltd.

The concessionaire is to hand it over to the government after 24 years of concession period.

To collect toll from the passing vehicles, five toll plazas will be set up on the ground while another will be on the flyover, the officials said, adding that the toll would be collected by using both manual and digitised systems.

For a single trip, Tk 5 will be collected as toll for a motorbike, Tk 10 for an auto-rickshaw, Tk 35 for a car, Tk 40 for a jeep, Tk 50 for a microbus, Tk 75 for a pickup van, Tk 100 for a minibus, Tk 150 for a bus, Tk 100 for a four-wheeler truck, Tk 150 for a six-wheeler truck and Tk 200 for a trailer.

Source: The Daily Star