Dhaka: Parts of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway (airport to Mogbazar) will be opened after the second phase of the public–private partnership project finishes, Road Transport Minister Obaidul Quader said Wednesday, reports the UNB.

He said the first phase of the PPP project from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to the Banani Railway Station will be completed by June this year. The second phase (from Banani Rail Station to Mogbazar rail crossing) of the construction work is expected to be finished in July next year.

In the third phase, the expressway will connect Mogbazar railway crossing to Kutubkhali of Dhaka-Chattogram Highway. It will be finished by September 2021, he told reporters after visiting the project site at Kawla, adjacent to Dhaka airport.

He claimed 50 percent work of the first phase is complete, while the overall progress of the project is 20 percent.

The 20km Dhaka Elevated Expressway has a budget of Tk 8,940.18 crores. It will start from Shahjalal Airport and end at Kutubkhali on Dhaka-Chattogram Highway via Kuril-Banani-Mohakhali-Tejgaon-Magbazar-Kamalapur-Sayedabad-Jatrabari.

PPP Project Director AHM Shakhawat Akhtar, Sakasith Swanagar, manager of Italian Thai Development Public Company Limited and other officials were present during the project visit.