65km circular road in Dhaka likely next year

[Black_cats]

65km circular road in Dhaka likely next year
Saddam Hossain, Dhaka | Update: 14:25, Oct 19, 2019

https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/news/203532/65km-circular-road-in-Dhaka-likely-next-year

The government is planning to implement a 65km long and 55.8 metre wide 4-lane circular road with all modern facilities in the western part of the capital.

The Roads and Highways Department (RHD), of the road transport and bridges ministry, has already carried out the feasibility study and submitted a proposed development project plan (PDPP) titled 'Circular Road-Part-2' to the planning division.

The estimated cost of the project is Tk 121.25 billion.

Officials hope that the project would get the ECNEC (Executive Committee of the National Economic Council) nod next fiscal year.

According to the PDPP, the proposed road would start at Abdullahpur and end in Dhaka’s Demra via Dhour, Gabtali, Bosila, Sowarighat, Chunkutia, Postagola, Chashara and Shimrail of Narayanganj.

The road will mainly go along the existing Abdullahpur to Babubazar road, known as the Dhaka Metropolitan Embankment Road, implemented by RHD in the early 2000s.

Cost and components

Out of the total estimated cost of Tk. 121.25 billion, about half would be spent for around 61.8 hectares of land acquisition and related tasks. A Development Project Plan (DPP) is being prepared by RHD for this purpose.

The proposed circular road will have four service lanes, a 10-meter wide lane dedicated for MRT line and 3.5-meter space for bus bays in parts of the road, according to PDPP.

The officials said the road will be a modern one with a ‘utility-duct’ for water, electricity and gas lines and a footpath stretching 87 kilometers. The utility duct would not require digging up the road.

A roads and highways department official said that there would be two bridges along the road, one at Sowarighat and another at Postagola, stretching 1,435 metres.

Vehicles will run without any interruption due to sufficient numbers of u-loops, overpasses and underpasses, the RHD official added.

Advantages

A huge number of people will get advantage once the road is implemented, said the RHD official.

Currently, Gazipur and Manikganj bound passengers from Sadarghat need to use airport or Mirpur road which adds to traffic congestion and more travel time. Once the circular road is implemented, travel time and fare will be reduced from 50 to 100 per cent, concerned persons of the department claimed.

Project progress

The roads and highways department is expecting foreign funds for implementation of the project, said Mohammad Mehedi Iqbal, executive engineer of the department’s Dhaka district office.

He said, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has already shown interest to fund this project but it is yet to be finalised.

The project would be implemented in three phases by domestic funds if foreign funds are not available, Mehedi said.

He hoped that the project would start from the next fiscal year.

 

[bluesky]

Out of the total estimated cost of Tk. 121.25 billion, about half would be spent for around 61.8 hectares of land acquisition and related tasks. A Development Project Plan (DPP) is being prepared by RHD for this purpose.

Bold part: If my calculation is not wrong, by reading the reporting the price of land is about 40 Lakh Taka per decimal. I find it too expensive. It is not that the route goes through all the posh areas and even then it is too costly.

My guess is that the reporter made a mistake. The land area is not that tiny 61.8 hectares (about 153 acres). It could be a minimum of 618 hectares (about 1,530 acres) when thought of the length of the route. Even then it is 4 Lakh Taka per decimal. I ask the people living in Dhaka, is the land price so high there?

Again, my calculation shows a 55km long and 55.8 m wide is equivalent to about 8,959 acres of land. I am quite perplexed at the incompatible reporting.

 

[Black_cats]

Bold part: If my calculation is not wrong, by reading the reporting the price of land is about 40 Lakh Taka per decimal. I find it too expensive. It is not that the route goes through all the posh areas and even then it is too costly.

My guess is that the reporter made a mistake. The land area is not that tiny 61.8 hectares (about 153 acres). It could be a minimum of 618 hectares (about 1,530 acres) when thought of the length of the route. Even then it is 4 Lakh Taka per decimal. I ask the people living in Dhaka, is the land price so high there?

Again, my calculation shows a 55km long and 55.8 m wide is equivalent to about 8,959 acres of land. I am quite perplexed at the incompatible reporting.

Government buy land at a rate three times the market price during acquisition for government project. Problem is sometime land surveyor show higher market price and show many other adjacent land for acquisition which happen in paper only but the money is taken out.

Corruption example in a government project:

 

[TopCat]

Government buy land at a rate three times the market price during acquisition for government project. Problem is sometime land surveyor show higher market price and show many other adjacent land for acquisition which happen in paper only but the money is taken out.

Corruption example in a government project:

There is no scope for showing any price by the surveyor. Govt pays according to the mouja rate, the rate people buy and sell land in that particular mouja in the recent past.
You can go and get mouja rate from tohsil office for any land.

 

[mb444]

Is it only me but how on earth is this a circular road?

 

[bluesky]

Government buy land at a rate three times the market price during acquisition for government project. Problem is sometime land surveyor show higher market price and show many other adjacent land for acquisition which happen in paper only but the money is taken out.

Corruption example in a government project:

However, my understanding is the original land prices are already fixed by the govt agencies like land offices based on which the land sales taxes are calculated. In the case of Municipality areas, prices of lands are fixed by the Municipality based on which Holding Taxes are collected.

So, a simple-minded man like me would think the land acquisition price is fixed on the basis of those prices, but you are saying it is fixed arbitrarily by the land surveyors. If so, the country is not run by systems but by the arbitrary methods.

 

[Bilal9]

Is it only me but how on earth is this a circular road?

Circular road doesn't mean circular in shape. In Dhaka's case (image above) the circle is not yet complete. Which means Abdullahpur and Demra will one day be connected.

Circular road means a 'concentric road' (or freeway) that circles a city. Most US flat land southern and mid-western cities - like those in Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri etc. (Houston being a good example) have circular freeways (often called 'ring roads'). Houston I believe has two circular freeways, one near and one distant from the city center.

 

[Bilal9]

 

[TopCat]

Circular road doesn't mean circular in shape. In Dhaka's case (image above) the circle is not yet complete. Which means Abdullahpur and Demra will one day be connected.

Circular road means a 'concentric road' (or freeway) that circles a city. Most US flat land southern and mid-western cities - like those in Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri etc. (Houston being a good example) have circular freeways (often called 'ring roads'). Houston I believe has two circular freeways, one near and one distant from the city center.

The other part is covered by this project