The road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader on Thursday said the SinoHydro Corporation had joined the Italian Thai Development Public Company Limited in implementing the Dhaka Elevated Expressway project.
The ITD, Thailand-based contractor of the expressway, has been given six more months to submit its financial report, Quader said while briefing journalists at Shetu Bhaban after meeting senior officials of ITD and SinoHydro.
The minister hoped that the portion from airport to Banani of the 46.73-kilometre expressway would be completed by 2018.
Quader said that the ITD had been struggling to mobilise funds and the pace of it construction were slow. 鈥楾his situation cannot continue,鈥� he said, adding, 鈥榃e have been facing questions about this challenging project from the very beginning.鈥�
Last August, the company had promised to boost up its activities but again failed to raise funds for which they had signed agreement, Quader said.
Recently the ministry had initiated the cancellation process but then the ITD met them and sped up the works, he said.
The company would work jointly with SinoHydro, which had done a number of projects in Bangladesh, including ongoing river training works of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge project, Obaidul said.
They had promised $10 million to continue the ongoing works and raise the rest of the funds within six months, he said.
The ITD now holds 51 per cent while SinoHydro has 49 per cent shares of the project, he said.
The minister said that his ministry had done its part, including land acquisition and providing compensation to the affected.
The ITD has been struggling to manage the funds since signing agreement with the Bangladesh Bridge Authority in 2011 to construct the country鈥檚 first expressway.
The deal was revised in 2013 due to change of alignment but the company continued to face funding issues and failed to submit its financial closure.
In 2015, the construction works of the expressway, from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to Kutubkhali on Dhaka-Chittagong highway, was inaugurated.
According to BBA web site, the ITD has prepared the construction yard and the preparatory works are ongoing and the project鈥檚 physical progress till date is only 7 per cent.