Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Cost of the Karnaphuli Bridge-3 project is set to increase again by Tk 31.51 crore as the project’s timeline has to be spun by another one and a half year.
From the latest revision, the project cost would reach Tk 682.79 crore.
The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) took up the 4-lane 950 metre length bridge project in 2003 with an estimated cost of Tk 429 crore.
Sources said, the RHD has already taken the move to revise the project cost. It calculates the latest revision
of the development project proposal (DPP) as the third one to be sent to the Planning Commission soon.
It will also seek at least one and a half year more to complete the project.
Earlier, the government increased the project cost two times based on the revision of the DPP.
The project was initiated on 2003 aiming to improve communications between Chittagong and Cox’s bazar.
As per the extended timeline, the project was supposed to complete by December 2015.
“We have already completed the construction work of the main bridge. But the bridge could not be fully operative yet due to delay in construction of an eight kilometer long approach road,” Md Harunur Rashid, Project Director of Karnaphuli Bridge-3 project, told the New Nation on Sunday.
He said that the approach road would be constructed from Bahaddarhat to other part of the bridge. “Official process has been initiated to appoint constantans for the work,” he said, adding, Consultant would be appointed after the approval of the design.”
The project director put the blame on delay in land acquisition for hampering the progress of construction work of the approach road. The cost of the project would go up due to the additional cost for land acquisition.
Officials said, when a project time is extended, the cost of various heads usually go up. This has happened for the project raising the estimated cost by several hundred crores taka.
The construction work of the much-awaited bridge began in August 2006. But the project could not be completed because of the delay in construction of the approach road.
