Ministry of Railways (MoR) has asked Bangladesh Railway (BR) to scrap a memorandum of understanding (MoU), signed to establish high-speed train connectivity on Dhaka-Chattogram corridor, following directive from Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
BR, the state-owned railway agency, received a letter in this regard from MoR on Thursday.
Sources said MoR held a meeting on December 13 after receiving a letter from PMO regarding scrapping of the MoU, signed between BR and China Railway Construction Corporation International (CRCCI) Company Limited.
BR and CRCCI signed the MoU on November 06 for implementing 'Dhaka-Chattogram via Cumilla/ Laksam high-speed railway line' project through government-to-government (G2G) initiative.
Officials said BR engaged China Railway Design Corporation in collaboration with a Bangladeshi company on May 31 to conduct feasibility study on the proposed high-speed railway line.
When asked why BR signed the MoU before completion of the feasibility study, they said previously there was another directive from PMO to sign the MoU.
The latest letter from PMO was issued on December 10 after the Chinese Embassy in a letter expressed surprise over signing of the MoU without any knowledge of its government.
It said no Chinese company is allowed to sign any international document regarding any project with the line ministry or the owner before the project is put into storage by the government of China.
A senior official of MoR said they knew about the Chinese government's new policy, but the MoU was considered a 'non-binding' one.
He said the high-speed railway line project is still under BR's consideration due to importance of the proposed train service to facilitate a high number of passengers.
The high-speed train on Dhaka-Chattogram route is said to commute passengers within two hours with the highest speed of 200 kilometre per hour.
The officials also said BR has previous records of signing a number of MoUs with different Chinese companies, which came up with proposals to construct new rail-tracks.
But afterwards hardly any of these companies was found in the scene. In 2015, BR scrapped more than 30 such MoUs for the reason, they added.
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