THE Padma Bridge Rail Link Project, the biggest work programme of Bangladesh Railway is facing a setback both in terms of time and cost over-run, says a report in a national daily. The project mooted at an estimated cost of Tk 34,989 crore in 2016 now runs over Tk 39,246 crore and the time line for completion is going to be extended from 2022 to 2024. Meanwhile, Padma Bridge is scheduled to open to traffic in 2022 and the delay for the railway project is likely to delay the opening of the bridge.
Experts blame changes in design at some points on both sides of the bridge, changes in work plan following demands of local representatives, government decision as well as accommodation of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic are causing the major setback. A review committee meeting identified these issues this week and made recommendations to overcome them.
The 169 km rail link project aims at connecting the capital with Jashore and beyond to India through the Padma Bridge. It appears that the construction work started two years late while the construction cost escalated by Tk 5,000 crore so far. Both the cost and time frame may further expand to add to the government concern. Meanwhile, the setback has forced the project authority to refund a huge amount of allocated money in the last two years on the one hand while shortage of budgetary allocation of local fund so far remains the big mismatch on the other.
It appears that the deadline for construction of the Mawa-Bhanga section has so far made 64 per cent progress while the overall progress is 37.39 per cent. The project authority mentioned that changes in designs of different structures, their coordination with the changed parameters of different government agencies and addressing local demands remain the big challenges. Political leaders and local representatives have their priorities and the project authorities are facing difficulties to meet these demands.
