Govt needs to spend 131pc extra as delay raises project cost

FHM Humayan Kabir | Published: January 31, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

The government would have to spend an additional amount of money, 131 per cent higher than the original estimate, for constructing a part of the Dhaka city circular road due to delay in implementation because of inefficiency of the authorities concerned, officials said Thursday.
The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) sought Tk 507.4 million extra against the original estimate of Tk 386.3 million for constructing the 2.60-kilometre road from Shirnirtek in northwestern Dhaka city to the Gabtoli Bridge. The RHD also sought five years more for completing the project.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in December 2008 approved the road project involving Tk 386.3 million. It was scheduled to be implemented during the period from January 2009 to December 2010.
RHD officials said they were compelled to seek the additional fund and the extra time, as land acquisition caused the delay in project implementation.
"The then Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka gave us a lower estimate of the prices of land to be acquired for the road. When we visited the site, we came to know that the land price was much higher than that estimated by the DC office," a senior RHD official said.
"We have already spent nearly 46 per cent of the Tk 386.3 million," he told the FE requesting for anonymity.
Most of the time the government's project implementing agencies fail to implement development projects in time which pushes up the costs.
An official of the ministry of communications said they had already sent a revised project proposal on the road project to the Planning Commission (PC) for its approval.
"We have got the proposal from the ministry. We're scrutinising it before placing it in the ECNEC meeting for revision," a PC official said.
He said: "The road is very important. It will ease traffic in the capital city. Inefficiency of the RHD has delayed its implementation. It may have undertaken the project without any proper feasibility study," he added.
The state would have to bear the extra cost for inefficiency of the RHD, the official said.
RHD officials said the Shirnirtek-Gabtoli Bridge road would ensure smooth communications with Uttara, Ashulia, Tongi and Gazipur from the capital city without putting pressure on the existing road network inside the city.