Revised Dhaka-Ctg highway project
Cost to rise for 4th time
Proposal to be placed before ECNEC today
JAGARAN CHAKMA
Although road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader had announced on January 3 that the Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway would be opened in May this year, the Planning Commission is going to place a proposal for a revised project, increasing the cost for the fourth time by around Tk 626 crore, at the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) today. According to the fourth revised detailed project proposal (DPP), the estimated cost of the countrys most important roadthe Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highwayhas increased to Tk. 3,816.90 crore from Tk. 3,190.29 crore in the latest revised DPP. The government has escalated the cost of the project five times since its inception in 2006.
Meanwhile, the commission has approved a one-year extension for implementation of the Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway. The commission, on December 15, okayed the fourth extension of the project till December 31, 2016. The deadline for the Tk. 3,190 crore Upgradation of Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane road project was hitherto December 31, 2015. On November 11, Obaidul Quader had said that he expected Bangladesh to start getting economic benefits of the four-lane highway from December itself. The minister had noted that the project was very challenging, but the government was going ahead with it, braving all odds. He had even announced that work on 158km of the 192km stretch of the four-lane highway had been completed. Meanwhile, officials in the roads and highways department (RHD) alleged that some contractors missed the deadline to complete their earmarked works despite repeated directives to complete the project within the stipulated time.
According to a monthly progress report of the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IEMD) of the planning ministry, a total of Tk. 2,411.25 crore had been spent till November. In 2006, the government had approved the project, to be completed by June 2012, at a cost of Tk. 2,168 crore. Later, the project was revised for the first time, increasing the cost to Tk. 2,382 crore in 2009 due to the correction of the profile of the project and changes in its cross-sectional design. In December 2012, there was a second revision of the project, further raising the cost to Tk. 2,410 crore due to increases in land acquisition costs. In March 2013, the ECNEC revised the project for the third time, hiking the cost to Tk. 3,190 crore, with the aim to complete it by December 2015. The RHD divided the highways into 10 packages for appointing the contractor. It appointed six local and foreign construction firms to complete the work within the deadline. The Planning Commission has approved the latest extension in the timeline without any increase in the project cost. The commission has said an IMED review is required to increase the cost of the project further, not to mention prior approval from the countrys apex economic body, the ECNEC. RHD officials said most of the additional expenditure is caused by contractors duties. With the increase in price of construction materials, contractor duties have shot up, the sources added. The original pavement of the Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway has already cracked due to prolonged construction activities and lack of maintenance on the highway.
The roads and highways authorities maintain the existing roads with the help of contractors appointed for the four-lane project. Under the agreement, the existing highway would be kept running, along with the construction of the four-lane highway. But a Chinese company, Sinohydro, refused to meet this clause in the agreement. Later, the entire maintenance contract was handed over to two Bangladeshi companies: Reza Construction and Taher Brothers Ltd.
