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Railway to buy 10 locomotives from India

Staff Correspondent
Bangladesh Railway (BR) yesterday sealed a Tk 349 crore deal with RITES Ltd, an Indian company to procure 10 broad-gauge diesel-electric locomotives from India in the next eighteen months.
Out of 295 locomotives currently in BR's fleet, more than 200 are too old to function properly. Some of them even date back 50 to 60 years.
According to the agreement, BR will receive two locomotives in the next 13 months and the remaining engines over a span of five months following the first procurement.
BR is purchasing the engines under the $1 billion dollar line of credit provided by India to Bangladesh for different infrastructural development.
Of the total 349 crore deal, Tk 246.39 crore will be borrowed against the line of credit while the remaining will be paid by Bangladesh government.
Each locomotive will cost, around Tk 22.80 crore excluding customs duty and value-added tax (VAT).
Khalilur Rahman, additional director general (rolling stock) of BR and VK Jain, executive director of RITES Ltd signed the deal at the Railway Bhaban in the capital.
Railways Minister Suranjit Sengupta, Railways Secretary Fazle Kabir and the acting Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Bhattacharya were also present at the ceremony.
“We want to procure the locomotives as soon as possible to strengthen our railway sector,’’ Suranjit said while speaking on the occasion.
He also urged the Indian company to provide the engines in the stipulated time.
Last October, BR struck a deal with Japan's Marubeni Corporation to procure 11 metre-gauge locomotives costing Tk 439 crore by April 2013.
Of the total cost, Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) will provide Tk 307 crore, while the rest will be borne by the public exchequer.
Hyundai Rotem, a South Korean company will manufacture the locomotives.
Earlier, in July last year, BR signed another deal under which 165 oil tankwagons will be procured from Texmaco Ltd, India by the end of 2012.
Twenty development projects including 12 of BR are being implemented under the line of credit.