An advisory team of Asian Development Bank (ADB) called on Finance Minister Shah AMS Kibria at his office here and exchanged views on matters relating to recasting the railway administration, reports BSS.

The implementation of the second phase of reform programme of the rail administration is now under preparaUon with financial and technical assistance from ADB.

The main objective of this reform programme is to introduce modern management system in the railway administration and make it a profitable organisation, an official handout said.

The handout also said that Bangladesh Railway was incurring loss every year and misusing a huge amount of money, which was casting an* adverse impact on the national economy.

Shah AMS Kibria said the continuation of the reform programme of the railway administration was now an urgent matter to modernise its management system as time-beflt-ting and make it profitable and ensure better communication facilities to the people.

He said without reform programme, Bangladesh Railway would lag far behind other modes of communication in terms of carrying passengers and goods in a competitive manner.

In this respect, the finance minister stressed the need for a

consensus among political parties and creaUon of awareness among the people to spearhead the implementation process of the reform programme in the railway admlnistraUon.

The ADB advisory team comprised its senior instltu-tlonal adviser S Hasan Ahmad and senior management consultant Pierre Martinue.