A revised route alignment for the 20.5-kilometre Dhaka Elevated Expressway over Mayor Mohammad Hanif Flyover was proposed by the implanting agency on Thursday.
The communications minister, Obaidul Qader, at a press briefing at Shetu Bhaban said the proposed alignment had been revised with a view to easing public sufferings.
According to the Bangladesh Bridge Authority, the initial route of the expressway comprised three parts — from Hazrat Shahjalal International to Mahakhali through the New Airport Road, along the railway, from Mahakhali to Kamalapur Rail Station through Tejgaon and Moghbazar and then it was planned to pass through Golapbag south of the Kamalapur Stadium, east of Jatrabari and to be connected with the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway near Kutubkhali.
The expressway is a public-private partnership project while the funding authorities were the Italian-Thailand Development Public Company Limited.
In response to media reports that the project was now in limbo for fund crunch, the minister said, ‘Fund is not a problem for this project but the route alignment is.’
He said a portion of the proposed alignment was planned through a densely populated area where there many structures on the route.
Qader said the prime minister on May 17 last year asked for a new alignment for the elevated expressway to avoid public sufferings.
She then gave directives to connect the expressway with the Jatrabari-Gulistan flyover as the 4.0km stretch of the expressway from Kamalapur to Kutubkhali went through a densely-populated area.
Following that Ital-Thai prepared a revised proposal which proposed the expressway over the Hanif flyover as a third layer.
‘We will take opinions of the technical committee members and send their opinions on the revised proposal to the prime minister for approval,’ the minister said.
The expressway also has two five-kilometre elevated links and 16.6-kilometre ramps, he added, expressing hope that the construction work would start in October this year.
‘If we go by the previous alignment, about 436 acres of lands would have to be acquired but, as per the revised alignment, about 60 acres lands have to be acquired,’ said Khandaker Anwarul Islam, secretary-in-charge of the Bridges Division.
The programme was attended, along others, by BBA chief engineer Kabir Ahmed, Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project director Mohammad Shafiqul Islam, and member of the DEE project’s four-member expert committee Professor Mohammad Shamsul Hoque. 
The project is estimated to cost Tk 8,703 crore while the government would provide 27 per cent of the total cost.
The project’s concession period is 25 years, including the construction period.