Tuhin Shubhra Adhikary

The physical work of another elevated expressway, which will facilitate vehicles’ quick entry and exit to and from the capital, is likely to start next month as the uncertainty over Chinese funding is now over.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last week gave the go-ahead to the draft loan agreement for the project called Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway. The development came after Chinese EXIM Bank approved the long-delayed loan of $1.2 billion, or Tk 10,226.53 crore, for the expressway, said project officials.

China will provide 65 percent of the total project cost of Tk 16,901 crore, they said.

Project Director Shahabuddin Khan said the finance ministry’s Economic Relations Division (ERD) and the Chinese bank were likely to sign the loan agreement this month. “We hope that the project’s physical work will begin next month,” he told The Daily Star yesterday.

A finance ministry official, who is aware of developments, also confirmed to this newspaper that the agreement was likely to be signed within this month.