The Bangladesh Railway has yet to commence work on a technical-assistance project, approved in 2023, for a feasibility study and preparatory work related to installing a new dual-gauge line parallel to Joydevpur-Iswardi route.
Despite its initial completion deadline set for December this year, the project has seen no significant progress yet.
The Ministry of Railways has submitted a request to the Planning Commission and the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Ministry of Planning, seeking an extension of the timeline until June 2027.
The ministry aims to complete the support project by appointing a consultant within this month.
The project, with an estimated budget of Tk 1.67 billion, is receiving financial assistance from Japan, which has pledged Tk 1.23 billion as credit.
Additionally, Japan is expected to finance the main infrastructure development project based on the findings of the feasibility study.
While the extension request does not include a budget hike, experts warn that the delay could escalate costs for the infrastructure project, said Prof Dr Shamsul Hoque, director, Accident Research Institute at BUET.
Until the proposed second rail line is built, according to him, the newly built double-track railway bridge over the Jamuna will lie significantly underutilised.
According to the rail ministry's letter, a proposal for appointing a consultant for the project's detailed design has already been submitted to the Advisory Council on Public Procurement.
Once approved, the project is expected to take two years for completion, followed by three more months for preparing a project completion report.
The ministry has, therefore, proposed extending the deadline to June 2027.
The decision to upgrade the existing Joydevpur-Iswardi railway line into a dual-gauge double-track one was made in 2016 following an initiative to construct a separate railway bridge over the Jamuna.
The objective was to improve rail connectivity between the northern region and the rest of the country, including the capital.
In early 2019, a Tk 142.51-billion project was undertaken with Chinese assistance to construct the dual-gauge double track on the section in question.
However, the timely disbursement of the promised foreign assistance of Tk 87.57 billion would ensure completion of the infrastructure development scheme by December this year.
As of June 2024, Tk 3.96 billion has been spent on the project.
The current fiscal year's Annual Development Programme (ADP) initially allocated Tk 277.7 million for the project, but it was later reduced to Tk 11.7 million in the Revised ADP (RADP).
Following the cancellation of China's loan commitment, the government decided to implement the project with financial assistance from Japan.
As part of this transition, a new feasibility study was initiated to redesign and reassess cost estimates.
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