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Second Dhaka-Ctg highway in limbo

$4.3b project fails to find capable bidder

M Abul Kalam Azad
Construction of the second Dhaka-Chittagong highway faces new dilemma as the government has yet again failed to find capable firms for the $4.3 billion project, say officials of Roads and Highways Department (RHD).
Two firms — Soma JV of India and Sino Global Enterprise JV of China — submitted bids in response to the government's prequalification tender in January, but an evaluation committee has recently found both incapable.
This was the second time in four years that the government failed to find a suitable firm or investors to build the second highway, meaning implementation of the project will be further delayed.
The delay will increase pressures on the narrow highway between Dhaka and the port city, eating up extra time and fuel, and causing more accidents.
Earlier in 2006, Malaysia-based Azimat Consortium submitted a bid to construct the 215-kilometre second highway. But it remained shelved since then as the rules don't allow the government to award the job to any firm if there
is only one bidder.
"We can't select firms that are not capable of implementing such a major project. We are desperately looking for suitable firms," Project Director Md Mafizul Islam toldThe Daily Star.
Meanwhile, the government has decided to build the second highway in public-private partnership (PPP) due to financial constraints. Some RHD officials, however, say attracting private investors will not be easy since the PPP idea is disappointing in construction sector.
Mafizul said they are going to float fresh tenders for both request for proposal (RFP) and pre-qualification for the project in 15 days. "We are now preparing documents for that," he added.
In fresh tenders, the government will ask the potential firms to submit both the design of the highway and financial estimates in a bid to save time.
Communications ministry officials say building the second highway has become essential as the present volume of daily traffic is more than three times the capacity of the existing one.
Called lifeline of the country, the highway has now become a death trap due to its narrowness. Traffic cannot move on it smoothly causing consumption of extra fuel.
The government is upgrading the existing highway to four lanes from two lanes at a cost of Tk 1,556 crore, which the officials say will only ease some pressure but not solve the problem.