The First Dhaka Elevated Expressway (FDEE) Company Limited, the investor in the project, will now enjoy a tax waiver facility as per the decision of the government revenue authorities to facilitate expediting its construction work.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has waived income tax on the source of foreign loans taken for the construction of the expressway, said NBR Director (Public Relations) Syed A. Momen.
The income tax wing of the Internal Resources Division (IRD) issued a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO), signed by NBR chairman Abu Hena Md. Rahmatul Muneem on October 28, exempting the tax until the loan tenure.
FDEE, an investor in the Dhaka Elevated Expressway Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project, has been exempted from income tax at the source of interest on foreign loans, the circular said.
This exemption will be applicable up to the term of the loan mentioned in the agreement.
According to the USD Term Facility Agreement dated March 30, 2019, FDEE borrowed from The Export Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to implement the project.
On January 19 in 2011, the Bangladesh Bridge Department signed an agreement with the Italian-Thai Development Company to implement the project in a public-private partnership.
According to the Development Project Proposal (DPP) review, the expenditure on the main project was Tk 3216.87 crore.
Work on the project began in July, 2011 and was scheduled to be completed by December 2014. Later the term was extended till December 2016. Expenditure increased to Tk 4,889 crore. The time was extended till December 2020 and new connections were added to the project.
In about 10 years, the main part of the project, Kawla-Banani 7.45 km, was under progress till September this year at 56 percent. Until September 2019, the construction progress from the airport to the Banani section was 50 percent.
The second phase of the project is 5.85 km from Banani railway station to Mogbazar level crossing. The third stage is 6.43 km from Mogbazar level crossing to Kutubkhali. In the eight years from 2011, the progress of the entire project was only 22 percent.
The starting point of the four-lane flyover is at Kawla, opposite Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. It will start from Kawla, Khilkhet, Kuril, Mohakhali, Tejgaon, Mogbazar, Kamlapur and reach Kutubkhali near Jatrabari. The flyover will be 19.73-km long.
It has 31 ramps for getting up and down. The total length of these is 27 kilometers. The flyover with these connecting roads or ramps will be 46.43 kilometers.