Int'l tender for second Dhaka- Ctg highway likely this year

FE Team | Published: September 22, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

A Z M Anas
The caretaker government is pressing forward with a plan to initiate the construction work of the second Dhaka-Chittagong Highway project, the cost of which is estimated at US$ 900 million.
"We're planning to float an international tender for the construction of the proposed second Dhaka-Chittagong highway project within the current fiscal year," a senior communications ministry official said.
"If the feasibility study on the proposed project is completed, the government will invite the tender for construction of the highway on build-own-operate and transfer (BOOT) basis," the official added.
The financing for the highway will come from local and foreign investors who will develop the project and transfer it to the government in 30 years after paying taxes in 20 years.
The Asian Development Bank has commissioned a consulting agency to carry out the feasibility study on the 210-kilometre-long, four-lane highway, widely considered to be the largest ever private infrastructure project in the country.
The official noted that the Roads and Highway Department, the implementing agency, had revised the alignment of the highway to cut costs.
The Malaysian company had proposed to construct six bridges on the rivers of Meghna and Sitalakhya, four toll plazas, parking lots, rest-houses, toilets, filling stations, eateries and mosques at reasonable distances.
In 2006, the Private Infrastructure Committee (PICOM), which oversees the government-endorsed large private infrastructure projects, decided to give the Azimat Consortium, a Malaysian firm, the status of a pre-qualified bidder following its "unsolicited offer" for the construction of the expressway.
But the Private Infrastructure Guidelines do not allow a single investor to be awarded the contract for any government-approved infrastructure project to be developed by private investors.
"Now the government has decided to award the contract to any consortium which will qualify through international bidding," a communications ministry official said.
In its proposal submitted to the communications ministry, the Azimat Consortium, projected the internal rate of return rate of returns would range between 19 to 20 per cent on top of investment.
Similarly, the private builder has to contribute $ 2.1 billion in taxes in 20 years to the government exchequer, while also returning assets worth $10 billion after 30 years of operation of the highway, says the proposal.
It has also forecast the daily diversion of 20 per cent of the existing 16,000 motorised vehicles moving through the Dhaka-Chittagong highway to the expressway.
The proposed four-lane Dhaka-Chittagong highway having world-class facilities will be built on the build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.
Once constructed, the highway is expected to cut the distance between the two cities by nearly 60 kilometres from the existing 264 kilometres, officials pointed out.
"Commuters will be able to get to the port city of Chittagong from the capital within three hours instead of six to seven hours now it takes, bringing about a revolution in the country's road transport system," a ministry official said.
The BNP-led coalition government had approved the second highway project following the submission of expression of interest by Azimat to the government.
Experts and the business community have long been demanding construction of a second highway to connect the capital to the port city for smooth transportation of goods and facilitate uninterrupted export-import activities through the Chittagong port.
Experts perceive the land acquisition to be the single most challenge for the implementation of the mega-project.
The acquisition of land of 2,500 acres for accommodating the highway itself, service stations, rest rooms, recreation facilities and prayer rooms would take a huge time, officials noted.
The main objective of the second highway is to enhance Chittagong Port's activities by ensuring swift supply and delivery of export and import items from the capital to Chittagong and vice versa.