Road Transport and Bridges Minister of Bangladesh, Obaidul Quader addresses the inauguration ceremony of Dhaka Bypass project at Kanchan in Rupganj upazila, Narayanganj on Thursday, December 26, 2019 

Work for upgrading the 48km Dhaka Bypass Road to dual carriageway was inaugurated yesterday, aiming to improve connectivity between Bangladeshi north and northwest parts, and is expected to be completed by 2022.

The consortium Sichuan Road & Bridge (Group) Co., Ltd, Shamim Enterprise Ltd and UDC Construction Limited had on December 6 this year signed a concession contract with the Bangladesh government to upgrade the road under public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.

The consortium will design, build, finance, operate, and maintain the tolled expressway over a 25-year concession period, and will be able to charge tolls based on the types of vehicles using the road.

The total cost of the project was Tk4,000 crore, with the consortium would provide Tk 3,276 crore , Bangladesh government offering a viability gap funding of the rest.

Xiong Guobin, Chairman of Sichuan Road & Bridge (Group) Co., Ltd at the inauguration ceremony.

The relevant officers of Bangladesh government and the Chairman of Sichuan Road & Bridge(Group) Co., Ltd at the inauguration ceremony.

Xiong Guobin , Chairman of Sichuan Road & Bridge(Group) Co., Ltd (SRBG) said, SRBG is a top 500 Chinese company and one of the "world's largest 250 international contractors". As a global competitive infrastructure service provider with "big civil" full industrial chain, it has been operating its own business in Norway, Kuwait, Cambodia, Egypt, Tanzania, Eritrea…more than 20 countries in the world and is an important participant in and contributor to the Belt and Road initiative. The projects undertaken by SRBG have been praised by the local government and people as "the road to prosperity" and "the bridge connecting hearts", which has established a good brand image and demonstrated the strength of "built by China". SRBG is willing to make unremitting effort to create high-quality projects to serve the economic development and social livelihood of Bangladesh, complete the construction of Dhaka Bypass project with high quality, efficiency and on schedule, and build the Dhaka Bypass Project into a road of friendship between China and Bangladesh, the path of economic development soaring, and the rich future for Bangladeshi people.