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Upgrading Jatrabari-Kanchpur Road

Fund crunch holds back 8-lane project

M Abul Kalam Azad
Fund crisis has made uncertain the government project to upgrade the busy Jatrabari-Kanchpur stretch of the Dhaka-Chittagong highway to eight lanes.
Aimed at easing traffic congestion on the eight-kilometre stretch, the project is estimated to cost Tk 120 crore and scheduled for completion in June next year.
However, little work has been done since floating of tenders in three packages in January, nine months after approval of the project for the now four-lane road.
The Roads and Highways Department (RHD), the executing agency, struck a Tk 37 crore contract with Rana Builders in March for widening the three-kilometre stretch from Rayerbagh to Shanarpar under the first package.
Tenders for the two other packages, however, were cancelled in April
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following allegations of irregularities in the bidding process. Fresh tenders are yet to be floated.
The project was planned to be funded from the public exchequer. But like many other schemes of the communications ministry, it has been dogged by funding crisis.
Project Director Md Mafizul Islam said, “Last year we received only Tk 1 crore, and Tk 5 crore has been allocated for this year. You cannot deliver the project with such a small amount.”
Talkingto The Daily Star, he hinted there would be no fresh tenders for the other packages until availability of funds was guaranteed.
The concessionaire, Rana Builders, has been filling earth at the site.
"We have started our job but now we doubt whether we can carry on without money,” said the company's director Masud Rana.
“So far we have received only Tk 1 crore and already spent Tk 7 crore. We can complete our work only if the fund is available in time.”
The project faced an initial hiccup when the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council last year had asked the communications ministry to include walkways on both sides of the road.
But the RHD floated tenders without keeping the provision forwalkinglanes.