Chinese co willing to sign MoU

Munima Sultana | Published: January 12, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

A Chinese company has now shown interest in constructing the planned Dhaka-Chittagong Elevated Expressway under government-to-government arrangement.Â Â Â
Officials spoke about the latest development on outsourcing Bangladesh's major infrastructure-building works, despite the fact that the project is being processed under public-private-partnership (PPP).
Sources said China Harbour Engineering Co Ltd (CHEC) in a letter to the Minister of Road Transport and Bridges expressed its willingness to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) early this week to construct the expressway.
This one comes up when the long-delayed Dhaka Elevated Expressway project is yet to move forward.Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
The Chinese company also proposed to construct two other highways -- Six-lane Dhaka-Chittagong Highway and the Dhaka-Sylhet four-lane highway.
A delegation of the company is learnt to have held a meeting with the Road Division Secretary on December 21 and submitted the letter of interest.
The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) already started feasibility study to identify a suitable route for Dhaka-Chittagong expressway under public-private partnership (PPP) last year with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank.
The Dhaka-Chittagong Elevated Expressway aims to establish uninterrupted connectivity between the two economically important cities of the country, with increased traffic facilitating trade and business.
However, RHD officials said there is no scope of changing the construction arrangement as the department has come a long way to carry out the construction of the project under the PPP.
The RHD signed a contract with an Australian firm having joint venture with firms of Japan, New Zealand and Bangladesh on July 3 last to conduct the study and prepare detailed design at a cost of Tk 800 million.
The joint venture comprises SMEC, an Australian firm, Oriental Consultants Co Ltd of Japan, Castalia Ltd of New Zealand and ACE Consultant Ltd of Bangladesh.
Road Division Secretary MAN Siddique said since the project is under PPP, the ministry will send the proposal to the Economic Relations Division for a review and will take decision based on their comment.
"If ERD gives the nod, a non-binding MoU could be signed," he told the FE over phone.
Sources said different ministries, including the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges, often receive proposals from different Chinese companies but hardly any of those see execution.
They also said in the case of CHEC, MoU could be signed to explore the scope of funding for the two other highway-development works -- six laning of the existing Dhaka-Chittagong Highway and four-laning of the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway.
The RHD plans to complete the construction of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway under the PPP during 2019-2023 with the target of opening the corridor for traffic movement by 2023.
The expressway will accommodate the increasing traffic volume on the Dhaka-Chittagong corridor as it will reach over 70,000 per day in 2024 from the present 40,000 as none of the four-lane or even eight-lane road would be able to cope with the transport load.
The Asian Development Bank is providing technical support with a fund of Tk 726 million for the expressway project under PPP.
smunima@yahoo.com