Staff correspondent :

Preparations are underway to inaugurate the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel under the Karnaphuli River in Chittagong. The construction work has already been completed almost 100%.
Project Director. Harunur Rashid Chowdhury told BASS today, “The Bangabandhu Tunnel under the Karnaphuli River is being prepared for traffic.”
He said, now the finishing touches are underway. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the tunnel on October 28.
He said the tunnel is fully ready for traffic. This historic project is the first underwater tunnel in the country. Preparations are underway for its inauguration.”
The tunnel under the Karnaphuli river will turn Chittagong into “two cities in one metropolis”. The
multilane tunnel will directly connect Chittagong Port to Anwara Upazila, which will directly connect Cox’s Bazar to Chittagong.
The tunnel will be 35 feet wide and 16 feet wide. Two tubes are constructed high and 11 meters apart so that heavy vehicles can easily pass through the tunnel.
The length of the tunnel is 3.40 km. It has an approach road of 5.35 km as well as a 740 m bridge connecting the main city, port and river. connecting the western side with its eastern side.
As part of the project, a bridge with a total length of 740 meters has been constructed connecting the main port city and the western side of the Karnaphuli river with the eastern side of the river and Anwara upazila.
Bangabandhu’s daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the first tunnel tube on 24 February 2019. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Chinese President Xi Jinping jointly laid the foundation stone of the Bangabandhu Tunnel on October 14 ,
2016. China Communications Construction Company Limited is working as the contractor for the project.
The tunnel will connect the proposed Asian Highway with the Dhaka-Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar highway and reduce the distance by 40 km. Vehicles can travel at a speed of 80 km per hour in this tunnel.
10 thousand 374 crores are being spent on the construction of Bangabandhu Tunnel. The tunnel project is being implemented with the joint funding of Bangladesh and China governments. China’s Exim Bank is lending Tk 5,913 crore at 2 percent interest and the rest is being financed by the Bangladesh government.