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DHAKA: The Bangladesh government on Thursday invited bids to build a new two-billion-dollar elevated highway to ease chronic traffic congestion in the fast-growing capital Dhaka.
The Communications Ministry wants to build a 32.5-kilometre (20-mile) elevated expressway in Dhaka connecting the northern part of the city to business districts in the central, south and southeast.
"The Dhaka Elevated Expressway will improve road connectivity," the proposal said, adding that current roads took up only eight per cent of Dhaka's land compared to the "ideal" of 25 per cent.
It said Dhaka's population of 13 million was expected to double over the next 20 years and it was urgently seeking a solution to the current "operational disorder" on the city's roads.
A recent study found that traffic in Dhaka is at a standstill for an average of 7.5 hours a day and in 2008 alone, some 20,000 new vehicles hit the city's roads.
- AFP/so
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