Despite being open to trial traffic for two months, Chattogram’s first elevated expressway, named after former mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, has been marred by careless driving and non-compliance with traffic rules.

Locals said that although two-wheelers and three-wheelers are officially banned, they are often seen on the 15.2 km flyover.

Sajjad Hossain, a motorcyclist from Chattogram’s Oxygen area, expressed concern about reckless driving on the highway.

“Cars are often seen coming from the wrong direction, especially at night. I even witnessed a bicycle accident there,” he told The Business Standard.

Mahfuzur Rahman, executive engineer and project director of Chattogram Development Authority, told TBS: “We have placed signboards stating the prohibitions, but no one is complying. We will write to the traffic department for help.”

The highway was partially opened to private vehicles and minibuses on August 24, but full-scale operations and toll collection are still awaiting approval from the ministry.

Regarding the official launch, Mahfuzur Rahman said that the tolls will be reviewed and submitted to the Ministry of Housing and Public Works at the board meeting to be held on Monday, October 27. “We will officially start collecting fees after receiving approval from the ministry.”

According to CDA, on November 14 last year, then prime minister Sheikh Hasina virtually inaugurated the 15.2 km ‘Mayor Mohiuddin Chowdhury-CDA Expressway’ in Chattogram city and 157 development projects across the country.

Although temporary traffic has started, buses, trucks and CNG autorickshaws are still prohibited. The motorway has a maximum speed limit of 60 km per hour.

Currently, highway ramps are missing so vehicles go directly from Lalkhan Bazar to Patenga. Cars can enter from Lalkhan Bazar, descend from Tiger Pass and continue to the edge of Patenga.

The main infrastructure of the highway was completed in April this year and was made ready for vehicles. However, trial traffic has not started as the installation of road lights and closed circuit (CC) cameras is awaited.

CDA signed a contract with the MAX-RANKEN joint venture on October 30, 2018 for the construction of the highway.

The expressway has 15 ramps, including one at GEC junction, two at Tigerpass, four at Agrabad, one at Fakirhat, two at Nimtala, two at CEPZ, one at Cement Crossing Junction and two in KEPZ zone.

However, ramp construction has not yet been completed and full-scale operations have been delayed.

Concerns were also raised about the quality of the work.

The Standing Committee of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works set up a sub-committee on June 10 to investigate complaints and assess the quality of construction following concerns about the elevated highway project.

However, after the fall of the Awami League government, the committee’s work remained incomplete.

The project was approved in July 2017 with the aim of easing traffic congestion in the port city. Initially, the project with a budget of approximately Tk 3,250 billion was planned to be completed by June 2020.

However, the timeline was extended many times until June 2024 and the project cost rose to over Tk 4.369 billion.