Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The government mega projects like the Padma Multipurpose Bridge, the Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway and the Moghbazar-Mouchack flyover, appear running into repeated cost overrun leading to unforeseen drainage of public money to the benefit of few.
According to analysts, faulty estimate of project costs and delay in their implementation are mainly responsible for the massive rise in cost overrun.
Bloated bureaucracy, inefficiency of the project directors and inexperienced contractors are also blamed for the cost overrun.
“It has been seen that mega projects have been plagued by delays and costs explosion. Now, costs appear to be unbearable. Such a massive rise in cost overruns has huge economic implications,” Dr Zahid
Hussain, Lead Economist, the World Bank’s Dhaka Office, Told The New Nation on Friday.
He said, these projects have already received added funding and got time extensions leading to drainage of public money and ruining their economic benefit and viability.
“It is necessary to implement all the mega projects on budget and on time to stop drainage of public money and maximize their economic benefits. But the government seems to be reluctant to ensure that projects are executed in time and on budget only to serve vested interest quarter,” observed Dr Zahid Hussain.
“Government’s mega projects are prone to massive cost overruns posing to a threat to the national economy,” Dr Ahsan Monsoor, a leading economist of the country, told The New Nation on Friday.
He said strategic misrepresentation of projects’ costs and delay in their implementation is mainly responsible for the cost overrun.
“The government is bound to increase the projects’ cost to adjust the price of various components of construction materials when the time of project execution extended,” argued Dr Ahsan Monsoor.
He further said that the current trend of projects’ executions suggest that completion of the projects may be delayed further increasing the cost again.
“Increase in costs time and again is nothing but wasteful expenditure of public funds and it will later squeeze the government’s ability to provide funds to other development projects,” he added.
When asked, Dr Ahsan Monsoon said, the ultimate rise in the project cost results from delay in their implementation causing pubic deprivation to get timely service. Therefore, delay in project implementation associated with cost overrun is also harming their economic benefits.
Padma bridge cost goes up further:
The total cost of the much-hyped Padma bridge project will finally come to Tk 28,793.38 crore, which is almost three times the original estimate.
The project, when approved in 2007, was supposed to cost Tk 10,162 crore, but in 2011 it was revised upwards to Tk 20,507 crore.
The project cost was revised once again at a recent meeting of the Executive Committee of National Economic Council, chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover:
The deadline for the completion of the Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover project has been extended again, with its cost going up by 58 per cent.
Construction was scheduled to finish by December 2015, but until December last year only 60 per cent of work had been completed.
The government has extended the project by another eighteen months. The construction firm handling the job will get until June 2017 to complete the work with project cost going up from Tk 772 crore to Tk 1218 crore.
The 8.25-kilometre flyover is being built in three parts – from Moghbazar to Tejgaon, from Kakrail to Rampura and from Mouchak to Banglamotor.
Officials said, one of the reasons for the cost going up is a 450-metre extension-from the FDC entrance to Hotel Sonargaon in Karwan Bazar.
Approved in 2011, the construction work of the project started in 2013 and since then the project’s tenure has been extended twice.
Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway:
The deadline for finishing the work on the crucial Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway has been extended-by one year- yet again.
This is the fourth time that the deadline has been extended for this project which is believed to be vitally important for the national economy.
The last deadline for the Tk 3,190 crore ‘Upgradation of Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane road project’ was Dec 31, 2015.
Officials related with the projects said, vested interest groups including consultants, officials, and politicians create pressure for project planners to low-ball their initial cost estimates and later forcing the policy makers to revise the project cost for getting financial benefits from the construction firms leading to their cost overrun and delay.
The government mega projects like the Padma Multipurpose Bridge, the Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway and the Moghbazar-Mouchack flyover, appear running into repeated cost overrun leading to unforeseen drainage of public money to the benefit of few.
According to analysts, faulty estimate of project costs and delay in their implementation are mainly responsible for the massive rise in cost overrun.
Bloated bureaucracy, inefficiency of the project directors and inexperienced contractors are also blamed for the cost overrun.
“It has been seen that mega projects have been plagued by delays and costs explosion. Now, costs appear to be unbearable. Such a massive rise in cost overruns has huge economic implications,” Dr Zahid
Hussain, Lead Economist, the World Bank’s Dhaka Office, Told The New Nation on Friday.
He said, these projects have already received added funding and got time extensions leading to drainage of public money and ruining their economic benefit and viability.
“It is necessary to implement all the mega projects on budget and on time to stop drainage of public money and maximize their economic benefits. But the government seems to be reluctant to ensure that projects are executed in time and on budget only to serve vested interest quarter,” observed Dr Zahid Hussain.
“Government’s mega projects are prone to massive cost overruns posing to a threat to the national economy,” Dr Ahsan Monsoor, a leading economist of the country, told The New Nation on Friday.
He said strategic misrepresentation of projects’ costs and delay in their implementation is mainly responsible for the cost overrun.
“The government is bound to increase the projects’ cost to adjust the price of various components of construction materials when the time of project execution extended,” argued Dr Ahsan Monsoor.
He further said that the current trend of projects’ executions suggest that completion of the projects may be delayed further increasing the cost again.
“Increase in costs time and again is nothing but wasteful expenditure of public funds and it will later squeeze the government’s ability to provide funds to other development projects,” he added.
When asked, Dr Ahsan Monsoon said, the ultimate rise in the project cost results from delay in their implementation causing pubic deprivation to get timely service. Therefore, delay in project implementation associated with cost overrun is also harming their economic benefits.
Padma bridge cost goes up further:
The total cost of the much-hyped Padma bridge project will finally come to Tk 28,793.38 crore, which is almost three times the original estimate.
The project, when approved in 2007, was supposed to cost Tk 10,162 crore, but in 2011 it was revised upwards to Tk 20,507 crore.
The project cost was revised once again at a recent meeting of the Executive Committee of National Economic Council, chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover:
The deadline for the completion of the Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover project has been extended again, with its cost going up by 58 per cent.
Construction was scheduled to finish by December 2015, but until December last year only 60 per cent of work had been completed.
The government has extended the project by another eighteen months. The construction firm handling the job will get until June 2017 to complete the work with project cost going up from Tk 772 crore to Tk 1218 crore.
The 8.25-kilometre flyover is being built in three parts – from Moghbazar to Tejgaon, from Kakrail to Rampura and from Mouchak to Banglamotor.
Officials said, one of the reasons for the cost going up is a 450-metre extension-from the FDC entrance to Hotel Sonargaon in Karwan Bazar.
Approved in 2011, the construction work of the project started in 2013 and since then the project’s tenure has been extended twice.
Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway:
The deadline for finishing the work on the crucial Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway has been extended-by one year- yet again.
This is the fourth time that the deadline has been extended for this project which is believed to be vitally important for the national economy.
The last deadline for the Tk 3,190 crore ‘Upgradation of Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane road project’ was Dec 31, 2015.
Officials related with the projects said, vested interest groups including consultants, officials, and politicians create pressure for project planners to low-ball their initial cost estimates and later forcing the policy makers to revise the project cost for getting financial benefits from the construction firms leading to their cost overrun and delay.
