The government would soon appoint a consultant for designing the double-line dual-gauge 4.8-km “Bangabandhu Railway Bridge Construction” project across the river Jamuna.
“The project has been undertaken to construct a separate railway bridge across the river Jamuna, a parallel to the existing Bangabandhu Bridge, to facilitate the smooth railway communication,” Railways Minister M Mazibul Hoque told BSS on Wednesday.
He said once the “Bangabandhu Railway Bridge Construction” project is completed, dedicated railway network would be set up between the North Bangladesh and rest of the country.
The minister said the railway bridge would also have a positive impact on the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and the government has also approved a 20-year master plan to improve the railway sector.
According to the project detail, the BR would implement the proposed mega project at an estimated cost of Taka 9,734.07 crore, of which Taka 7,724.325 crore would come from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as project assistance under a soft loan agreement.
It said the Bangladesh Railway (BR) selected a Japanese consultant firm through price and technical negotiation from a shortlist of suitable responsive bidders for the much-talked railway bridge project.
“After the proposal for consultant appointment is passed in the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP), the government would issue notification of award (NoA) for the consultant firm,” a senior official said.
Earlier the shortlist was prepared through expression of interest (EoI) and the government issued request for proposal (RFP) for submitting financial and technical offers, he said adding, the consultant would prepare design and tender documents for construction of the bridge.
Meanwhile, the BR conducted a feasibility study with financial support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for undertaking this project, also included in the 37th Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan package signed between Japan and Bangladesh on June 29 last year.
The planned railway bridge is expected to be completed by 2023.
