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Telecoms project under question

Prices of equipment, fibre optic cable fall, yet projected cost doubles

Abdullah Mamun
The estimate for a project of Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Ltd (BTCL) to lay 1,514 kilometres of optical network across Bangladesh has shot up from the original quotation for no concretereasons.
The Telecommunication Network
Development Project to be funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was conceived two years ago with an estimate of $ 13.6 million.
However, on December 20, a Japanese consultant, Y Kawabata, hired by the BTCL at a fee of Tk 20 crore, revised the estimate
to a significantly higher amount of $24.73 million.
The inflated figure, as Kawabata justified, was due to an increase by 83 kilometres of the fibre optic line to 1,514km from the initial 1,432km and the country's "severe environmental conditions”.
However, he decreased the microwave links to 4 from the original plan of 11, along with a few other cost-cutting changes.
Whereas, in another project, the government is currently installing an optical fibre cable network in 1,000 union parishads at $3.78 per metre.
Similar other previous ventures by the BTCL cost $6-7 per metre. But the estimate for the JICA project was an alarming $12.32permetre.
When The Daily Star wanted to know from the BTCL about the reworked estimate by the Japanese consultant, it said the original plan was to lay 824 kilometres of fibre cable network but that has been extended to 1,514 km - and caused the large rise
in the estimated costs.
The BTCL further added that half the length of the cable network will be laid out using the costly horizontal directional drilling (HDD) technology — a method to lay cable without digging — and that the cable route would include two river beds, which is always a cost-intensive exercise.
However, a reliable source of the BTCL contradicted the statement, saying that only around 30 percent of the route would employ the HDD method — that too would not cost more than $6 per metre — and that the original plan included the two river beds.
The official also said the BTCL's claim on laying 824 kilometres of fibre cable was false.
Interestingly, the officials of the planning department of the BTCL said they never got the detailed break-ups of the new estimate from the consultant.
They also said the BTCL formed a committee to assist the consultant, but according to a letter that the committee sent to the managing director
on January 9 this year, the consultant never met the team.
In the letter, the committee said it was not possible to evaluate the new estimate as there were no breakdown of the equipment and their unit prices, the types of fibre cables and the methodology to be used.
“I was not the MD of the BTCL when the estimate was approved, so I can’t comment on the estimate,” said Managing Director of BTCL Azizul Islam.
On the other hand, the JICA authority in Bangladesh refused to be drawn into the allegation of over estimation or malfunction in the procurement process.
Kei Toyama, senior representative of JICA Bangladesh, said, “Procurement responsibility lies with the BTCL. We are waiting for BTCL officials' response to the procurement. We expect they should procure efficiently and accountably as per the country's procurement rules and regulations and our JICA guideline.”