MR Amin, Chittagong

The toll collection on the Chittagong Elevated Expressway is scheduled to start from December 19 (Thursday) but it was delayed at the last moment and the toll collection may start from January 1.

Toll was supposed to be collected from today on the elevated expressway from Lalkhan Bazar to Patenga, which was built at a cost of 4 thousand 298 crores. The ministry has already fixed the toll rates and the CDA has constructed a toll plaza at the Patenga end.

Sources said that the 16-and-a-half-kilometer elevated expressway from Lalkhan Bazar to Patenga at a cost of Tk 4,298 crore was supposed to be collected from the beginning. However, no toll has been collected even though the traffic has been running experimentally for the past few months. The ministry has already decided the toll of the elevated expressway. CDA has also completed the construction of toll plaza at Patenga end. The CDA had already announced that the traffic will have to pay fixed rate of toll from 19 December (today) morning. But at the last moment it was decided to postpone the toll collection process for a few days.

The ministry has approved the new toll rate allowing 10 types of vehicles to travel on the elevated expressway. In this, from GEC, CRB, Agrabad, get on the flyover at CEPZ, Cement Crossing, KEPZ, get off at Sea Beach for CNG taxi Tk 30, car Tk 80, jeep and microbus Tk 100, pickup Tk 150, minibus Tk 200, bus Tk 280, truck ( four wheeler) Tk 200, truck (six wheel) Tk 300 and covered van Tk 450A fixed amount of Rs.Besides, CNG taxi from Sea Beach, KEPZ, CEPZ to Nimtala, Agrabad, Tigerpass and Lalkhan Bazar costs Tk 30, Car Tk 80, Jeep and Microbus Tk 100, Pickup Tk 150, Minibus Tk 200, Bus Tk 280, Truck ( Four wheeler) Tk 200, truck (six wheel) Tk 300 and covered van450 has been fixed for Rs.From GEC and Tigerpass to Agrabad, alight at Fakirhat and again to Nimtala, from Agrabad Access Road to Lalkhan Bazar and Tigerpass for cars CNG Taxi Tk 20, Car Tk 50, Jeep Tk 70, Microbus Tk 90, Pickup Tk 130, Minibus Tk 180 , bus 250 taka, truck (four wheels) 180 takaTrucks (six wheelers) and covered vans are prohibited on this stretch of expressway.In the toll proposal approved by the ministry, the registered movement of motorcycles and trailers has been banned.

CDA Chairman Engineer Nurul Karim said that arrangements are being made to send the toll money directly to the bank to ensure transparency. He also said that the toll collection process will start only after this is done.

Note that the length of the expressway was supposed to be 16.5 km. At present it is 15.2 kilometers. In the initial survey, 20 ramps (vehicular ramps) were to be constructed, but 14 have been constructed. The construction company has eliminated five more unnecessary ramps from this. At present nine ramps will be used to move vehicles. The total length of the ramp is estimated to be 12 km but in reality only half of it is there. The CDA project is being implemented by Bangladeshi contractor Max Infrastructure Limited and Chinese contractor Rankin.

The expressway was scheduled to open in June 2020. Later it was changed to June 2024. Currently, the time has been extended by one more year till June 30, 2025. The then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated it through a video conference on November 14 last year before the construction work was completed.

When the Ekneke project was approved in 2017, the project was scheduled to be completed within three years at a cost of Tk 3,250 crore. Although the construction work was inaugurated in the middle of 2018, the construction work started on February 24, 2019. By revising the design in 2022, the cost was increased by another 1 thousand 48 crores and the period was extended till June 2024. However, as the work is not completed, the latest project has been extended by one year to June 2025.