A move is underway to make fresh assessment of the cost of the proposed 172-kilometre new rail track project designed to connect Jessore with Dhaka through the Padma Bridge.
An inter-ministerial meeting held on January 10 last decided to conduct a fresh assessment of the project as the cost estimated by a Chinese company came down to half through negotiations.
The meeting that decided to appoint an international consultant for the purpose was organised to get opinions from agencies concerned and experts on the commercial proposal which was finalised after negotiations.
Experts including Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) attended the meeting. Representatives from the ministries of finance and road transport and bridges were also present.
The Bangladesh Railway (BR) completed negotiations on the commercial proposal placed by China Railway Group Ltd (CREC) fixing the cost at US$ 3.14 billion from $6 billion estimated by the latter earlier. The team headed by BR's Director General conducted the negotiations.
Sources said the cost was reduced after evaluating the proposal based on the bill of quantity (BoQ) price and schedule rate of Bangladesh Railway and other government agencies fixed in constructing similar components.
Though the proposal for contract negotiations is now under the law ministry for vetting to place it before the cabinet committee on public purchase for approval, the experts gave an opinion on further assessment of the cost through a 'third party' consultant.
"As the Chinese proposal has not been received through competition and there is no engineering estimation on the project cost, there is a possibility of exaggeration on different costs," said an official who attended the meeting.
To avoid those conflicts, he said, the experts suggested appointing an independent consultant to further assess the cost of the Padma bridge railway track construction project through a third party.
He said it may help the government lower the project cost further.
The experts also recommended sending the proposal to the cabinet committee on public purchase after carrying out assessment by the third party consultant.
To start rail service through Padma bridge from the very beginning, Bangladesh Railway (BR) is now in a hurry to implement the railway track development project aiming at setting up rail tracks on both sides of the 6.15-kilometre bridge.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided technical support to complete the feasibility study and detailed on the part of Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga rail track. The BR has started the process of formulating the development project proposal for this costly railway project.
According to the DPP, Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga-Jessore rail route will have 172 kilometre length including 23km elevated rail track and viaduct, 43km loop line, 46km major bridge, 244 minor bridges and 14 new stations.
The BR and CREC signed a memorandum of understanding to construct the railway tracks through Chinese loan under government-to-government arrangements.
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