Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The government’s mega projects are facing a string of setback due to inefficiency of the implementing agencies, bureaucratic tangle and delay in signing financial deal with foreign countries.
Officials said, either the projects have stalled or made a little progress on the way to their implementation even after the government ensured funding to their heads.
The mega projects are the Padma Bridge, Metro Rail, Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, Rampal Power Plant, Payra Sea Port, Matarbari Power Plant, Padma Bridge rail link, Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar-Gundum rail line, Sonadia deep sea port and LNG terminal.
The projects have been undertaken to support the country’s inclusive economic growth.
Earlier, the government listed the development projects under the Fast Track Project scheme forming a high-powered Monitoring Committee, headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to speed up their implementation.
The Committee held a meeting recently to evaluate the progress of the mega projects. The meeting expressed dissatisfaction over their sluggish implementation progress.
“All the mega projects except Padma Bridge are progressing at a snail’s pace
which is unacceptable,” a senior Finance Ministry official told The New Nation on Friday requesting not to be named.
He added: “These projects are time bound and costly. Delay of their implementation would push up their cost further harming the state coffer as well the national economy”.
When asked, the Finance Ministry official said, “These are the government’s priority projects and necessary funds have already been allocated for their implementation.”
He also blamed inefficiency of the implementing agencies for the slow progress of their implementation.
The government has set aside Tk 18,727 crore in the current budget for them except Sonadia deep sea port and LNG terminal.
No allocation was made for these two projects as they will be implemented on government-to-government (G2G) basis.
Officials said, the government still remains undecided on developing the Sonadia deep sea port as a number of foreign countries, including the USA, China, Japan and India, have already expressed their interest to engage with this mega project.
“The government is in dilemma over implementing the project because of their interest. The project has already been stalled without any progress,” a Shipping Ministry official told The New Nation on Friday.
Besides, the government moved forward for developing the LNG terminal in 2009. But it is yet to make any headway due to complexity in its tendering process and bureaucratic red-tape. Besides, it is yet to sign deal with a Gulf country for importing LNG.
A similar picture is also prevailing over the implementation of the 129km Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar-Gundum rail line project as the implementing agency could not complete the process of land accusation for the last six years.
The country’s largest railway project has been made a little progress although it has been taken up in July 2010, said an official.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide Tk 13,115 crore for the project, and the rest will come from government funds. The time limit for the revised project has been extended to 2022. No progress has been made for the implementation of the Matarbari Power Plant and Padma Bridge rail link as the government is yet to sign deals with the respective governments (Japan and China) in this regard.
Matarbari Power Plant was to be financed by the Japanese government. But the project seems to be stalled after the Gulshan café attack, officials said.
The government earlier incorporated the Tk 34,989-crore Padma Bridge rail track project in the list of fast-track project.
Under the project, a 172-km rail track would be built between Dhaka and Jessore.
Of the funds, the government will provide Tk 10,239 crore and China Tk 24,794 crore.
The government has allocated Tk 200 crore for implementing the primary work of the Payra Sea Port, which has 19 components. On Thursday, two Chinese companies signed preliminary agreements with Bangladesh to develop three components of Payra seaport with $510 million in funds.
The government plans to commission the Metro Rail Project [MRT line-6 from Uttara to Motijheel] ahead of its 2024 deadline. Work on the first part of the 20-km vital rapid transit project from Uttara North to Agargaon would be completed by 2019.
Work on the segment from Agargaon to Motijheel would be completed in December 2020.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide Tk 16,594 crore for the project out of the total cost of Tk 21,985 crore. The implementation of the project is also going on in slow place. The authorities are now busy on developing land for the project. Development of main structure would start next year after completion of tender process, the officials said.
The first phase of the 2,400 megawatt Rooppur nuclear power project has seen considerable progress since Bangladesh signed the project agreement with Russia in January 2013.
The ECNEC recently gave its nod to implement the most expensive project for Bangladesh.
The government wants to complete at least one unit of the project by 2018 while the deadline for its completion is 2023.
For Rampal Power Project work related to land development and construction of boundary walls in the 1,320MW project is almost finished. It was launched by a Bangladesh-India joint venture company in 2010.
The power plant is another much-talked about project to be implemented by 2023.
The government’s mega projects are facing a string of setback due to inefficiency of the implementing agencies, bureaucratic tangle and delay in signing financial deal with foreign countries.
Officials said, either the projects have stalled or made a little progress on the way to their implementation even after the government ensured funding to their heads.
The mega projects are the Padma Bridge, Metro Rail, Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, Rampal Power Plant, Payra Sea Port, Matarbari Power Plant, Padma Bridge rail link, Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar-Gundum rail line, Sonadia deep sea port and LNG terminal.
The projects have been undertaken to support the country’s inclusive economic growth.
Earlier, the government listed the development projects under the Fast Track Project scheme forming a high-powered Monitoring Committee, headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to speed up their implementation.
The Committee held a meeting recently to evaluate the progress of the mega projects. The meeting expressed dissatisfaction over their sluggish implementation progress.
“All the mega projects except Padma Bridge are progressing at a snail’s pace
which is unacceptable,” a senior Finance Ministry official told The New Nation on Friday requesting not to be named.
He added: “These projects are time bound and costly. Delay of their implementation would push up their cost further harming the state coffer as well the national economy”.
When asked, the Finance Ministry official said, “These are the government’s priority projects and necessary funds have already been allocated for their implementation.”
He also blamed inefficiency of the implementing agencies for the slow progress of their implementation.
The government has set aside Tk 18,727 crore in the current budget for them except Sonadia deep sea port and LNG terminal.
No allocation was made for these two projects as they will be implemented on government-to-government (G2G) basis.
Officials said, the government still remains undecided on developing the Sonadia deep sea port as a number of foreign countries, including the USA, China, Japan and India, have already expressed their interest to engage with this mega project.
“The government is in dilemma over implementing the project because of their interest. The project has already been stalled without any progress,” a Shipping Ministry official told The New Nation on Friday.
Besides, the government moved forward for developing the LNG terminal in 2009. But it is yet to make any headway due to complexity in its tendering process and bureaucratic red-tape. Besides, it is yet to sign deal with a Gulf country for importing LNG.
A similar picture is also prevailing over the implementation of the 129km Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar-Gundum rail line project as the implementing agency could not complete the process of land accusation for the last six years.
The country’s largest railway project has been made a little progress although it has been taken up in July 2010, said an official.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide Tk 13,115 crore for the project, and the rest will come from government funds. The time limit for the revised project has been extended to 2022. No progress has been made for the implementation of the Matarbari Power Plant and Padma Bridge rail link as the government is yet to sign deals with the respective governments (Japan and China) in this regard.
Matarbari Power Plant was to be financed by the Japanese government. But the project seems to be stalled after the Gulshan café attack, officials said.
The government earlier incorporated the Tk 34,989-crore Padma Bridge rail track project in the list of fast-track project.
Under the project, a 172-km rail track would be built between Dhaka and Jessore.
Of the funds, the government will provide Tk 10,239 crore and China Tk 24,794 crore.
The government has allocated Tk 200 crore for implementing the primary work of the Payra Sea Port, which has 19 components. On Thursday, two Chinese companies signed preliminary agreements with Bangladesh to develop three components of Payra seaport with $510 million in funds.
The government plans to commission the Metro Rail Project [MRT line-6 from Uttara to Motijheel] ahead of its 2024 deadline. Work on the first part of the 20-km vital rapid transit project from Uttara North to Agargaon would be completed by 2019.
Work on the segment from Agargaon to Motijheel would be completed in December 2020.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide Tk 16,594 crore for the project out of the total cost of Tk 21,985 crore. The implementation of the project is also going on in slow place. The authorities are now busy on developing land for the project. Development of main structure would start next year after completion of tender process, the officials said.
The first phase of the 2,400 megawatt Rooppur nuclear power project has seen considerable progress since Bangladesh signed the project agreement with Russia in January 2013.
The ECNEC recently gave its nod to implement the most expensive project for Bangladesh.
The government wants to complete at least one unit of the project by 2018 while the deadline for its completion is 2023.
For Rampal Power Project work related to land development and construction of boundary walls in the 1,320MW project is almost finished. It was launched by a Bangladesh-India joint venture company in 2010.
The power plant is another much-talked about project to be implemented by 2023.
