Contractor Abdul Momen has been awarded a $2bn contract by the Bangladesh Roads and Highways Department to widen the motorway linking the town of Elenga and the city of Rangpur northeast of Dhaka, reports World Highways.

The company will carry out 11 work packages on the 190km highway, which crosses the Brahmaputra at the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge (pictured). Packages include widening the road from four lanes to eight, constructing seven bridges, 17 culverts, one flyover and five underpasses.

The road is part of a larger scheme to develop a transport corridor in northwest Bangladesh, officially known as the SASEC Road Connectivity Project Phase II.

The Bangladeshi company was awarded the contract after a lengthy bidding process, during which costs increased almost threefold.

In 2017, the scheme had an estimated cost of $714m, to be funded by the Asian Development Bank ($250m), the Japan International Cooperation Agency ($243m) and the Asian Development Fund ($50m), with the remainder to come from the government of Bangladesh.

Over the past three years a number of companies, including Chinese contractor Sinohydro, engineer Hego and a subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering have been associated with particular work packages.

Abdul Momen, also known as ALM Construction, is part of a conglomerate that also produces agricultural and chemical products. The engineering division has worked on a number of high-profile schemes in the country, including the Padma Multipurpose Bridge and schemes at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka and Osmani International Airport in Sylhet.