The Padma Bridge builder has demanded almost half the cost for constructing the country's largest road-cum-rail bridge from the railways ministry over a year for making the rail part.
As the Bangladesh Bridges Authority (BBA) built the viaduct entirely with loans from the government, sources said, it recently placed the demand in a letter with a Tk 62-billion claim.
The BBA constructed the 6.15-kilometre bridge at Tk 121.33 billion under its Tk 326.05-billion Padma Multipurpose Bridge project. The road part was opened to traffic on 26 June 2022.
The Bangladesh Railway (BR), which will start running trains through the bridge soon, has been installing tracks on both sides of the bridge with a Chinese loan.
The project will be fully completed next June, but the prime minister will inaugurate the rail line from Dhaka to Bhanga on October 10.
The loss-making state rail operator is likely to earn revenue by operating trains through the bridge as it will link new areas and reduce train-operating cost and time significantly.
Sources said both the BBA and the BR held a meeting in this connection at secretary level last Sunday, but it ended without settling the demand.
They, however, agreed to work on the issue by forming a technical committee to study more on the claim of the BBA and legitimacy of the amount it claimed.
About the issue, railways secretary Dr Humayun Kabir said as the BBA has started repaying the loan to finance ministry, it demanded the amount to lessen its loan burden.
"We've listened to their claim. As many other issues were related to the claim, both sides agreed to form a committee," he told the FE last Thursday.
When asked about total spending on the rail part, PMB project director M Shafiqul Islam, however, said the amount spent on road and rail parts could not be differentiated accurately.
According to project insiders, the steel-truss composite bridge, which has rail line on its bottom part, had to spend colossally on piers' foundation and length to take the load of the rail.
Besides, the BBA had to acquire a significant portion of land for approaching the rail track on either side of the bridge.
BBA officials said the estimation was calculated taking into account how much the BR needs to bear if it constructs a rail bridge separately.
'A proportionate share of river training work and land acquisition was calculated in the claim made to the BR," said a senior official.
The BBA is an autonomous body, which takes all funds from the government as loans, but the BR gets it free, he commented.
Sources said the members of the proposed committee, might be from Finance Division and National Board of Revenue so that the issues are settled justifiably.
The BBA official further said that if the BR could get a rebate of the part of its cost that BBA spent on the bridge, it would also be a relief for the BBA.
The BBA has already made two instalments to the tune of Tk 6.0 billion to the Finance Division.
The bridges authorities will have to pay back the loan in 35 years.
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