List of 10 mega projects under Road Div ready

Munima Sultana | Published: May 09, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

The ministry of communication has prepared a list of 10 mega projects under its Road Division to press an urgent demand for Tk 35 billion in the upcoming fiscal year, officials said.
The demand is 90 per cent of the allocation likely for the Road Division in the fiscal year (FY) 2014-15.
The officials said as yearly allocation for the Road Division always mismatched with the rise in demand, the list was meant for displaying the reality to the authorities concerned.
The Finance Ministry is likely to allocate Tk 39.02 billion for over 130 projects being implemented under the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and Dhaka Transport Coordination Auhtority (DTCA).
Among these, major four-lane highway works, bus rapid transit (BRT) and mass rapid transit (MRT) projects, regional connectivity projects will need significant segments of the budget this year.
"Every year, a good number of expensive and important projects are shown under the Road Division. But these projects are never taken into consideration during allocation of funds," said an official of RHD.
He said the budget for the 10 mega projects cannot be curtailed as almost all of these projects would be completed by December this year or shifted to the implementation stage from consultancy stage.
The ministry officials said the demand for the Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway project would be raised to Tk 12 billion for the new fiscal year as the project was scheduled to be completed by December this year.
Besides, an allotment of Tk 8.98 billion would be required for Dhaka-Mymensingh four-lane highway project, Tk 4.2 billion for the Eastern Bridge Improvement project, Tk 4.42 billion for SASEC Road Connectivity project and Tk 3.8 billion for the MRT project.
The officials said the project Greater Dhaka Sustainable Urban Transport Project, under which the BRT line will be set up from Gazipur to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Jatrabari-Katchpur Road Eight-Lane project etc are also equally important to ensuring uninterrupted traffic movement with some important corridors.
Total cost of all the 10 mega projects is Tk 340 billion, of which Tk 25 billion have already been spent.
"The list of the mega projects will also help the ministry in giving priority to the projects in order to take speedy decisions and support from the higher authorities like the cabinet, the Prime Minister's Office etc," said another official.
He said the projects had been selected as there was no scope for keeping these projects on hold on the excuse of fund constraints.
Despite the importance attached to the development of road infrastructure to spur economic growth of the country, the yearly development budget for RHD, which is an important department of the Road Division, had declined in terms of percentage.