After almost a year-long legal battle, the dispute between the three foreign investment and shareholding companies under the Dhaka Elevated Expressway project has come to an end recently.
The Singapore International Arbitration Centre on October 20 in an order said that there was no obstacle now to transfer the 51 per cent share of the Thailand-based Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited to two Chinese shareholder companies of the project.
China Shandong International Economic and Technical Co-operation Group and Sinohydro Corporation Limited own 34 per cent and 15 per cent shares of the project respectively.
Project director AHM Shakhawat Akhtar on Thursday said that the Italian-Thai company had already started the work of transferring the shares following the order.
Once the transfer of share is completed the project work would start in full swing, he added.
The remaining 25 per cent work of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway project, which would take less than a year to complete, has been at a near halt since early this year over the dispute among the three companies.
The 46.73-kilometre expressway project, from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway at Kutubkhali near Jatrabari, was undertaken in 2011 to reduce traffic congestion in the capital and save time and money.
Project authorities said that 75 per cent of the project was finished till October 17 while the project deadline is till June next year.
In Hatirjheel area near the BFDC level crossing, some workers were seen busy at the project site, while no work was going at any other site under the project.
The First Dhaka Elevated Expressway Company Ltd, a joint venture of the Italian-Thai and two Chinese companies, is implementing the project under the supervision of the Bangladesh Bridge Authority.
The two Chinese companies were demanding the transfer of the Thai company鈥檚 share to them, as it defaulted on paying loan interest to two Chinese banks in the current year.
On January 28 this year, the Italian-Thai company filed a case with the High Court, challenging the demand of the two Chinese contractors for transfer of shares.
The Italian-Thai company has also filed a case with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, challenging the same demand.
On May 16, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court asked the three foreign companies to maintain the status quo over transferring the major shareholder鈥檚 shares to its co-contractor firms until May 30.
The Appellate Division on May 30 ordered the companies to maintain the status quo until the arbitration in Singapore resolved the share transfer dispute.
The Appellate Division dismissed the case on September 1.
Project director Shakhawat Akhtar said that the ITD would transfer the share as per the financial agreement jointly signed by it with the two Chinese companies.
No changes would be seen in the project as only the ownership would be changed, he mentioned.
Akhtar also said that they were hopeful that the rest of the works would be completed by June 2025.
The expressway project was revised in 2013 due to alignment changes, and construction began in 2015 at an estimated cost of Tk 8,940 crore.
The three contractor companies signed loan agreements with the China Exim Bank and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in March 2019.
The Airport-Farmgate section of the expressway had been inaugurated on September 2, 2023.
