Shawdesh Desk:

Seven flyovers on the Dhaka-Gazipur route, under the first-ever bus rapid transit line project in Bangladesh, were formally opened for traffic on Sunday.

At a virtual progranme held at the secretariat on the day, the road transport and bridges minister, Obaidul Quader, inaugurated the flyovers.

The minister said that these were eid gifts to the people of the country.

He also mentioned that within December this year bus services on the BRT corridor would run.

The seven flyovers are — 323-meter long airport fFyover (left side), 323-meter long airport Flyover (right side), 180-meter long Jasimuddin Flyover, 165-meter long u-turn-1 Gazipur Flyover, 165-meter long u-turn-2 Bangladesh Open University Flyover, 240-meter long Bhogra Flyover and 568-meter long Gazipur intersection Flyover.

The ‘Bus Rapid Transit Line-3 Project’, also known as Greater Dhaka Sustainable Urban Transport Project, on the Gazipur–Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport route was undertaken in 2012 to reduce traffic congestion in the adjacent road network.

The Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit Company Limited, along with the Roads and Highways Department, Bangladesh Bridge Authority and the Local Government Engineering Department, is implementing the 20.2 kilometres long BRT Project on the Gazipur–Airport route.

The same company will run the buses on the line once the infrastructure is fully ready.

Till now the project progress is 91 per cent.

Soon after the inauguration of its construction, the BRT Project became an example of irregularities and mismanagement with development projects.