Dhaka: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the country's first eight-lane highway from Jatrabari to Kanchpur through a videoconference on Saturday.

The videoconference will be held at her official residence Ganobhaban in the morning, reports UNB.

Sheikh Hasina will also inaugurate the construction works from Jatrabari intersection to Mawa, including Ikuria-Babubazar link, and upgradation of Pachhar-Bhanga Highway to a four-lane one with a separate service lane on both ways for the slow-moving vehicles which is also known as Padma Bridge link road.

According to the Road Transport and Bridges Ministry, the Road Transport and Highways Department implemented the 7.20-km eight-lane highway project from Jatrabari-Kanchpur at a cost of Tk 131.99 crore.

An official at the Ministry told UNB that Jatrabari-Kanchpur highway is the main corridor for the entrance and exit of vehicles plying the

Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Sylhet highways, while completion of the project will largely contribute towards easing traffic congestion on these busy highways.

The official also informed that the Roads and Highways Department and the Special Works Organization (West) of Bangladesh Army will jointly implement the Padma Bridge Link Road project by April 2019 at an estimated cost of Tk 6252.28 crore.

The 55-kilometer highway will go through Dhaka, Munshiganj, Madaripur and Faridpur upazilas and it would have six flyovers, four railway overpasses, 15 underpasses and three interchanges.

Once the project is implemented, the passenger and goods transportation from Dhaka to the southern districts will be safer, secure and less-time consuming one.

When the Padma Bridge Link road will be upgraded into a four-lane one, the vehicles coming from Dhaka-Sylhet and Dhaka-Chittagong highways will easily be able to the southern districts through Jatrabari intersection.