Old airport tunnel sees green light
Inter-ministerial meeting today
The construction of the first-ever tunnel beneath the Old Airport finally gets moving as the communications ministry has moved to conduct feasibility study of the proposed tunnel linking Jahangir Gate and Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.
No tangible initiative has been made over the last three years although experts have time and again suggested for the tunnel to ease traffic congestion on the airport road, especially in Mohakhali and Prime Minister Office areas. The Strategic Transport Plan (STP) also recommended for the tunnel.
“The feasibility study will begin in March to determine alignment, construction method and assess economic viability with an estimated cost of Tk 8 crore,” said a Bridge Division official.
He said two firms have submitted proposals to conduct the study. They are Yooshin Engineering-BCL, a joint venture company of Korea and Bangladesh, and SMEC-COWL-ACE, also a joint venture company of Australia, Denmark and Bangladesh.
“We are evaluating their offers and expect to appoint one firm by the end of February,” said the official.
The communications ministry is scheduled to hold an inter-ministerial meeting at the Bridge Division today in a bid to expedite the move.
As per the primary concept, the tunnel will be multi-lane considering the future traffic volume with at least four-lanes.
Construction of the tunnel is necessary as the Mohakhali flyover could not achieve its desired goal of easing traffic rush on the Airport Road.
The link road constructed along the old airport eased the situation, but that too can't completely serve the purpose of diverting traffic flow to areas like Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Agargaon, Shyamoli, Rayerbazar, Dhanmondi and Lalbagh.
“We want to finalise everything in this regard without delay,” said Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain.
The communications ministry has taken a number of projects, including construction of flyovers, elevated expressway, metro rail, underpasses and overpasses in the last two years to ease intolerable traffic congestion in the city. But delay in implementation of the projects has further deteriorated the situation.
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