Repair work of Meghna Bridge yet to start

The long-awaited repair work of the damaged Meghna Bridge on the Dhaka-Chittagong road transportation corridor -- the country's busiest one -- is yet to see any forward movement on way to begin its operations. The government approved a Tk 1.49 billion rehabilitation project a month ago. This was done following a feasibility study that was conducted by a Malaysian firm that found the 930-metre bridge as 'very risky' for traffic movement as far back as in March this year. Furthermore, it recommended to the government of Bangladesh to start immediately the rehabilitation work of the bridge on the country's main economic corridor to help avert its any possible collapse. Officials said the Roads & Highways Department (RHD) is yet to chalk out a plan to carry out the rehabilitation work as it has still no idea about the source from which it will get the "approved" fund of the government. The decision was later taken by the RHD to start the work from its own sources. The government tried once to repair the bridge by keeping it closed but it was reopened only within a period of three days without completing the work due to the heavy pressure of traffic on the highway, the sources said. The officials said RHD has been in a severe fund crisis to carry out its on-going projects under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) including those listed as the most priority ones. Funding of the repair work of the Meghna bridge is not possible with any fresh amount of support by the ministry of finance (MoF). "We are very much confused about how the fund would be made available from the annual budget when the MoF has not been able to provide an adequate amount of allocation for repair and maintenance of important damaged roads, including those under the government's most priority list," said an official, preferring for anonymity. The officials said since the approval of the Meghna Bridge Rehabilitation project on October 18, by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), the department has been waiting for the government order (GO). Usually a GO is issued within a week in case of an emergency project, the RHD officials said while stating that even on receipt of a GO, more time will be needed to start the rehabilitation work of the important bridge for completing all its administrative approval process with the ministry concerned. The ministry of communications (MoC) has meanwhile decided to carry out the rehabilitation work of the Meghna bridge from its own fund, ignoring the soft-loan offer by a Japanese lending agency. The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) at least one year earlier, offered its cooperation and funding support to the ministry of communications to carry out the repair work of the existing bridge, along with construction of the 2nd Meghna bridge project, in a package. Despite this, the ministry concerned, it is alleged by some quarters, failed to receive any additional fund against its huge demand, after the announcement of Medium-Term Budgetary Allocation. Also it did not accept the Japan's soft loan offer, as the allegations further run, to award to the contract for construction of the 2nd Meghna to a Chinese firm. However, the ministry concerned requested the JICA to carry only the rehabilitation work, before placing the package project to the ECNEC. An Economic Relations Division (ERD) officer said Japan has offered the government to repair and construct two bridges in a package, keeping in mind the need for coordination of activities, relating to both works. "It is necessary to coordinate the rehabilitation work of the existing Meghna bridge with the construction work of a new bridge but this will not be possible, after giving the works of the proposed 2nd Meghna bridge to China," he told the FE. A RHD official said the department has only an amount of Tk 180 million as block allocation for its unapproved projects under the ADP for the current fiscal. As such, it is now processing works to seek the Planning Commission to raise the amount of such block allocation to Tk 1.49 billion. "As we see very little scope for getting fund for the rehabilitation work of the Meghna bridge, we have drafted a letter to get the approval of allocation of the fund for it from the Planning Commission," he said, adding that it will also take time to get such an approval. Earlier in September, the ministry of communication sought an additional allocation of a Tk 1.49 billion fund from the MoF on an urgent basis to repair the Meghna bridge, after getting the Prime Minister's approval as it will be difficult to follow the medium-term budgetary framework in the current fiscal. The road communication between capital city of Dhaka and the port city of Chittagong faces a severe threat of dislocation, following the detection of scouring at more than the anticipated level in the existing two-lane bridge. Situated within 25 kilometre of the corridor from Dhaka, the JICA-funded bridge was constructed in 1991. RHD detected the first scouring of the bridge in 2004 and its further deterioration was noticed in 2008. Though the then government tried to repair the damage by keeping the bridge closed, it had to reopen it again after only three days of suspension due to "heavy pressure" from different quarters.