Word's longest Marine Drive | 80KM | Cox's Bazar -Teknaf | Bangladesh | কক্সবাজার মেরিন ড্রাইভ রোড

Word's longest Marine Drive 

Cox Bazar-Tekhnaf Marine Drive is a 80-kilometre-long road from Cox’s Bazar to Teknaf along the Bay of Bengal and it is the world’s longest Marine Drive.[1] It was inaugurated on May 6, 2017 by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

It was was constructed by Bangladesh Army under supervision of Bangladesh Roads and Highways Department.[3] The construction cost was around ৳1,050 crore.


An 80-kilometre road from Cox’s Bazar to Teknaf along the Bay of Bengal, billed as the world’s longest Marine Drive, has been opened to traffic.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the coastal road on Saturday morning, at the 28th-kilometre point of the road at Inani.
Bangladesh Army constructed the Marine Drive under supervision of the Roads and Highways Department.
The long awaited 80-kilometre Marine Drive Road from Cox’s Bazar to Teknaf is opening on Saturday, ushering a new era of tourism in Bangladesh.

The work of this mega project has almost been completed and now waiting for the formal inauguration. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the marine drive embracing the longest unbroken sea beach.

Project and tourism concerned people termed the project as a great milestone which will add a unique feature to the natural beauty of Cox’s Bazar and will help attract a large number of tourists both from home and abroad in the beach city.
 
The total cost of the project was Tk 1040 crore. Of the total amount, Tk 93.78 crore was spent for the first phase, Tk 491.26 crore for the second phase and Tk 455.61 crore for the final phase.

 
Project sources said under the project, a total of 17 mini bridges, 108 culverts have been built in the long 80-km way. Besides, in order to make it tourist friendly, the project also has kept tourist friendly facilities like walkway, flexible pavement, sheds, parking facilities, changing rooms and other facilities.

Besides, Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA) is establishing exclusive tourism economic zone in Sabrang of Teknaf on 1000 acres of land. The long marine drive alongside the longest sea beach will add a strong boost to the Sabrang tourism economic zone.

Tourism sector insiders said the government has mega plans centring Cox’s Bazar. The government has already declared Maheshkhali as Digital Island and mega projects like power plants, deep sea port, international airport, international stadium and other plans will transform the tourism city.

With the opening of the beautiful marine drive, travel lovers will be able to explore the mesmerising beauty of world’s longest sea beach in a whole new way. The main attraction of the marine drive road is- it embraces hills one side and sea beach another side which will fill the thirst of tourists.

“It’s a great endeavour of the government to implement such a mega project within the deadline,” he said.
The road -- one of the longest marine drives in the region -- is expected to be one of the most attractive places for the tourists from home and abroad, with its unique natural beauty, rich culture and long trails of adventure.

The government has also planned to set up the country's first tourism park called Special Economic Zone Naff Tourism Park on the Jaliar Dwip island along Bangladesh-Myanmar border in the Natong Hills area at Teknaf.

Development works worth Tk 25 billion were progressing in the tourist district of Cox's Bazar, including the tourism park on an area of 272 acres of land over-viewing the hills and Naff River in the southeast border with Myanmar.

Sources in the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) in Cox's Bazar said the then government in 1996 took up a 48-km Cox's Bazar Marine Drive road project at a cost of Tk 2.03 billion.

But the two-km stretched Kolatali intersection-Premier Hatchery part of the drive constructed by the RHD was severely damaged by the strong waves of the Bay of Bengal.

The construction of the project was stalled for a long time before the present government taking it up again for completion at the earliest. At this stage, the construction work was handed over to the Army Engineering Battalion, which started the work afresh, with an extension of the project to 80-km in July 2014.

To ensure sustainability and quality of the project, the ECB-16 started the work in three phases from Kolatali to Inani, from Inani to Shilkhali and from Shilkhali to Sabrang of Teknaf.

Some 96 per cent of the work has been completed and full work of the road will be completed in June next year, sources said.

On both sides of the drive, there are walkways, flexible pavement for the tourists, sheds, car parking and changing rooms for the female tourists. There are three bridges and 42 culverts along the road.