Scrapping deal with a Chinese company for misdealing, the Bangladesh government decided to upgrade Dhaka-Sylhet highway to four-lane one on its own, officials said.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges (MoRT&B) did away with the preliminary deal with China Harbor for upgrading the 214-kilometre highway due to latter's "unscrupulous practice" regarding the contract.
Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has taken up a Tk 114.12- billion project for the highway upgrading to four lanes with service lanes on both sides, in view of its importance regarding trans-border connectivity.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith in mid-January last had said China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC) Limited had been blacklisted for offering sop to government officials and would not get any contract in future.
The company had previously got the contract for expansion of the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway followed by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in 2016.
Bangladesh and China signed the memo during Chinese president's visit to Bangladesh in 2016, among many deals and accords reached between the two sides.
On September 21, 2016, Bangladesh's cabinet committee on economic affairs approved RHD proposal for allowing China Harbor to implement the project.
China had promised to provide some $21.5 billion in soft loans for 26 projects, including the Dhaka-Sylhet highway.
"We have sent a Tk 114.12-billion-project proposal to the Planning Commission (PC) for approval. The entire cost will be borne by the government from its own resources," said an RHD official.
A PC official said they had got the development-project proposal (DPP) for the Dhaka-Sylhet-highway upgrading. It will require prior approval from the Planning Minister due to change in the funding method before proceeding for its approval.
"Initially, the road-reconstruction work was to be done with Chinese funds. Now the RHD has proposed the work with government's internal funds. So, we need the ministry's approval prior to proceeding for approval," he told the FE.
The MoRT&B said the upgradation of the road is an imperative as it will be used as part of the Asian Highway, BIMSTEC corridor, SAARC Highway corridor and cross-border trade and communications through Tamabil and other northeastern land ports.
He said the road will not only connect the divisional city of Sylhet with the capital, Dhaka, but also connect India's northeastern states for strengthening the economic and trade relations between the two neighbours.
According to the Tk 114.12-billion project proposal, the RHD would complete the road upgrade by April 2022.
The RHD official said they would upgrade the road to a 4-lane one with service lanes for slow-moving vehicles on both sides.
"When we were confirmed about the incident of bribing government officials by the Chinese company for hiking bid price of the 4-lane-road works, we cancelled the preliminary deal with it. Then we have prepared the DPP with government's own funds," said the RHD official without quoting his name.
Finance Minister Mr Muhith told the press last month that the CHEC offered bribes to government officials to get the contract or to increase the amount for work.
Asked about the amount of sop, the Finance Minister said: "I forgot the amount. Maybe, it will be some Tk 50 lakh (Tk5.0 million)."
Earlier, the Chinese government had assigned China Harbor Engineering Company Limited for the Dhaka-Sylhet 4-lane-road-construction works and asked Bangladesh to sign a commercial contract with the firm.
Another RHD official said the Chinese firm demanded far more money than what RHD had estimated for the expansion works.
"We calculated every cost keeping in mind inflation and price escalation of materials, but the company came up with such a rate that was not acceptable," he added.
The FE repeatedly tried to contact the RHD Chief Engineer Wednesday but he didn't respond to calls.
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