FROM PAGE 12

Tk 34,989 crore. The project was supposed to be completed within June 2022.

But the loan agreement with China was delayed. In April 2018, the ERD inked a Tk 21,036 crore loan agreement with Exim Bank of China, and the physical work of the project finally started in October 2018.

As the project deadline was deferred to June 2025, the cost went up to Tk 39,246 crore.

The Dhaka-Bhanga section of the line was opened in October last year while the Bhanga-Jashore section is expected to be inaugurated within a month or two.

The Joydebpur-Ishwardi double line project, taken up in November 2018, was supposed to be implemented within December 2024.

But China in March 2021 refused to finance the Tk 14,250.61 crore project citing “a lack of in-depth preliminary work and insufficient feasibility study”.

China’s decision came four months after the Prime Minister’s Office in November 2020 directed the BR to cut the negotiation price of three projects, including the Joydebpur-Ishwardi double line scheme, as the cost review committee found that the costs were relatively high.

The two other projects involve converting the Akhaura to Sylhet and Joydebpur-Mymensingh-Jamalpur sections into dual-gauge from metre-gauge.

The government decided to implement the Joydebpur-Ishwardi double line project with Japanese loan and the PMO directed the railway authorities to look for other financiers for the Tk 16,780.95 crore Akhaura-Sylhet project.

The Joydebpur-Mymensingh-Jamalpur project has not been approved by Ecnec yet and the railways authorities are continuing negotiation with the selected Chinese contractor for the last three years without any visible progress, officials said.

TUNNEL, ROAD, FLYOVER PROJECTS

Construction of the Bangabandhu Tunnel under the Karnaphuli river in Chattogram is the only transport sector project completed so far under the Chinese loan facility.

The tunnel was opened to traffic in October last year after the Tk 10,690 crore project was implemented by Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA).

The BBA is now implementing the Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway Project with Chinese loan.

The project, which was supposed to be completed within June 2022 at a cost of Tk 16,901 crore, was delayed as the Chinese authorities took time to approve the loan. The project cost has now gone up to Tk 17,553 crore and deadline has been deferred to June 2026.

Another project, which was supposed to be implemented with Chinese loan, was to convert the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway into four-lane one.

A Chinse contractor was selected for the work and the government signed a primary deal in this regard.

But the Chinese firm then allegedly offered bribes to then newly appointed secretary of the Road Transport and Highways Division to give the go-ahead to the work at an inflated cost.

Speaking at a programme in January 2018, then finance minister AMA Muhith said the company was blacklisted for trying to bribe the government official.

Roads and Highways Department is now implementing the project with the Asian Development Bank’s loan.

MONGLA PORT PROJECT

Another transport project was supposed to be implemented for expansion and modernisation of the Mongla port facilities with Chinese loan.

The Mongla Port Authority submitted a Development Project Proposal (DPP) long ago but and Planning Commission in November last year sent back the DPP, involving around Tk 4,500 crore, recommending more scrutiny, a port authority official said.

“We have already sent back the DPP to the shipping ministry after scrutiny,” the official said wishing not to be named.