Awami League (AL) General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader today said the country’s first elevated expressway will be launched in September this year to ease traffic congestion in the capital.  “Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the country’s first ever elevated expressway in September this year to reduce traffic congestion in Dhaka,” he said. The minister said this after inspecting the construction work of Dhaka Elevated Expressway in Kawla area, adjacent to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport here. He said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the Airport-Farmgate section of the now under-construction Dhaka Elevated Expressway in September. “Once the entire work of this expressway is completed, traffic congestion in Dhaka city will reduce to a large extent. It will also have a positive impact on (the country’s) economy,” he added. Noting that the expressway is being completed in three phases, the road transport minister said that around 97 percent work of the first section up to city’s Banani and 54 percent work from Banani to Moghbazar section have been completed. On the other hand, visible work has started on the last part from Moghbazar to Kutubkhali, he added. Quader informed that 63 percent of the total work of this project has been completed so far. “Once the entire project is completed, the expressway will connect the capital with the Dhaka-Chattogram highway (Kutubkhali),” he said. The minister said that in the first phase of the physical work of the project, about 1482 piles, 326 pile caps, 325 columns, 325 cross beams and 3,048 eye girders have been completed. “The progress of this physical work is 97.28 percent,” Quader said. The minister said that in the second phase of the physical work of the project, 1,633 piles, 335 pile caps, 323 columns, 320 cross beams, 2,305 eye girders have been constructed. “The progress of this physical work is 54.22 percent,” he added. While replying to a query from journalists, the road transport and bridges minister said that the feasibility study is going on over the PPP project for the outer circular around the capital. “The AL-led government is the first in the country to build Bangabandhu Tunnel, Metro Rail, Padma Bridge, and Expressway. If Awami League returns to power in the next election, other plans including the outer circular will be implemented on time,” he said. Referring to the one-point movement of BNP and 32 other like-minded opposition parties, AL General Secretary said the collapse of the one-point movement is inevitable as these 32 parties are a mismatched and hotchpotch. Mentioning that the government will remain as it is, Obaidul Quader said they (the new mess of 32 parties) couldn’t raise a single wave. “Who is the leader of their movement? Will the ship run without a captain? This messy unity changes from phase to phase,” he added. There is no guarantee of survival of this 32-party alliance, he said, adding that earlier, there were 54 parties. “The collapse of this messy unity is inevitable,” he reiterated. In response to another query about the arrival of the US and European Union delegations to Bangladesh, Obaidul Quader said the US delegation is not coming for election-related matters. “They are coming to know the situation of Rohingyas. And the EU delegation is coming to see how the observer team will monitor the elections,” he added. Officials of Italian Thai Development Public Company Limited, China Shandong International Economic & Technical Cooperation Group (CSI) and Sinohydro Corporation Limited were present during the inspection of the construction work of Dhaka Elevated Expressway.