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

Once built, the 24km expressway will connect Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport with Abdullahpur, Ashulia, Baipail and Dhaka Export Processing Zone on the Nabinagar-Chandra highway. Vehicles using the road will have to pay toll, said project officials.

It is also expected to boost the country’s gross domestic product by 0.21 percent, show project documents.

The work of the expressway was set to start four years ago after the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved the project. The work was scheduled to be completed by June next year.

The physical work, however, could not begin as the Chinese authorities delayed approving the loan.

Now, the project authorities want to complete the work within four years.

Meanwhile, Hasina yesterday said Bangladesh is making commendable progress in development for her government’s long stay in power.

“Since we have been in power for three consecutive terms, the country’s development [works] is getting visible,” she said.

The premier was addressing an event arranged in her office to receive a donation for Prime Minister’s Relief Fund to distribute blankets and other warm clothes among the poor during in the upcoming winter.