The Bangladesh Railway (BR) has recently informed the finance ministry that the costs of Padma Rail Link Project (PRLP) will escalate if the work does not begin this year. “A British consultant was appointed by skipping the tender process for a speedy review of the cost estimates, as the government is keen on running trains from the day of inauguration of the project by December 2018,” the
BR said.
According to the Planning Commission, which approved the project earlier this month, the rail links will be completed in 2021—three years after the scheduled inauguration of the Padma Bridge.
PRLP director Sagar Krishna Chakraborty, however, said the BR would like to complete the 25-km Bhanga-Mawa rail link by 2018 in order to run a token train over the bridge.    
The government is facing funds crisis to implement the Padma rail link project this fiscal year as the Chinese government is yet to respond to Dhaka’s request. Dhaka has urged China to give top priority to the Padma rail link project under the economic cooperation programme between the two countries and to accordingly arrange necessary funds for the project in 2017.
According to sources in the railway ministry, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the finance minister wrote separate letters to Chinese president Xi Jinping and commerce minister, requesting speedy funding for the project.
When contacted, Kazi Rafiqul Alam, additional director general (infrastructure) of the BR, declined to make any comment on the project.
Under such circumstances, Md. Firoz Salah Uddin, the secretary of the rail ministry, sought an additional Tk. 2,742.13 crore for the project in the current fiscal year, which was scheduled to be allotted from foreign assistance.
The ministry demanded a total amount of Tk. 5,124.43 crore this fiscal year of which Tk. 2,742.13 crore will come from foreign assistance. BR sources said there had been no progress on the credit agreement with the Exim Bank of China despite the correspondence on the issue at a high level of the government.
Government plans to open train services through the Padma Multipurpose Bridge on the same day that the Bridge is completed and opened. “To achieve the target, the project has been listed as a fast-track project of the government of Bangladesh and is, therefore, under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh,” says the letter which was wrote to the President of China recently requesting him to expedite the funding process.
The Economic Relations Department (ERD) sent a loan proposal of USD 3,138.75 million to the Chinese embassy in Dhaka on September 15, 2016. Once built, this railway—for the first time in the history of Bangladesh—will directly link Dhaka with the country’s south-western region, the letter said. Meanwhile, a two-member ERD delegation visited China last month to discuss the Exim Bank loan for eight priority projects this year. According to ERD sources the Chinese side had asked them to send the loan proposal by March. They also said that the Chinese side had demanded 15 per cent matching funds in advance after singing the loan agreement. It will not be possible for Bangladesh to provide 15 per cent of the total fund in advance as matching funds, the sources added. This project is included in the ‘Memorandum of Understanding on Strengthening Investment and Production Capacity Cooperation’, which was signed by China’s commerce minister and Bangladesh’s finance minister on October 14 last year, when Xi Jinping visited Bangladesh.
Moreover, Bangladesh has asked China Railway Group Ltd (CREC) to start construction of the Padma Bridge rail link from Dhaka to Jessore district, sources in BR said.