The Sayedabad Water Treatment Plant Phase 3 project of Dhaka WASA was approved in June 2015 at a cost of Tk 45.97 billion with a four-year deadline.
However, due to delays, its third revised proposal extends the deadline by an additional nine years, raising the estimated cost to Tk 160.15 billion, said officials.
The Planning Commission has finalised the revision proposals for eight such long-delayed projects. They will see their costs rise by Tk 151.75 billion combined, pending approval from the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).
The seventh ECNEC meeting of the interim government is scheduled to be held on Sunday (March 23) at the NEC auditorium in the capital and will be chaired by Chief Adviser Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus.
The documents prepared for the meeting reveal that the combined estimated costs of the eight projects at the initial stage were Tk 136.07 billion. The revised costs are Tk 287.82 billion, 111.53 per cent higher than the initial costs.
Officials said 15 proposals have been formulated to be placed at the ECNEC meeting. Of those, seven are fresh projects and the rest are revisions of ongoing ones.
The combined costs for the seven new projects are estimated at Tk 166.26 billion. Of the amount, Tk 165.73 billion will come from the government exchequer, and foreign grants will account for the remaining Tk 534.02 million.
The ECNEC meeting will decide on a total investment of Tk 454.09 billion, covering both new and ongoing projects.
Official data reveals the Sayedabad Water Treatment Plant Phase 3 project will help supply 450 megalitres of water per day (MLD) from the Meghna River to meet the rising demand in the capital.
However, it achieved only 9.81 per cent progress in the last decade with the spending of only 2.44 per cent of the allocation. The cost is set to be increased by 248.35 per cent, aiming to reduce dependency on groundwater.
Analysing the proposals, it was found that the overall costs of the projects are set to increase by 15-248 per cent. Only the cost of a single project is set to be reduced by around 20 per cent.
The project to develop the first terminal at the Payra port and establish the relevant facilities was approved in June 2019 with an estimated cost of Tk 39.82 billion and mid-2021 as the deadline.
But because of only 55 per cent progress, the project may be extended to December next year. The revised cost is to be set at Tk 54.28 billion, 36.31 per cent higher than the original estimate.
The Ministry of Shipping signed agreements with several Chinese companies to construct the Payra port terminal during the Covid-19 pandemic. But work was disrupted due to lockdowns, leading the contractors to demand over Tk 8.0 billion in compensation, said officials.
Additionally, the significant depreciation of the taka in recent years further escalated costs, they explained.
The cost of a project to improve Munshiganj's road connectivity with Dhaka and its surrounding areas has been increased by 49.04 per cent in the first revision proposal.
The project involves widening 10.813 kilometres of roads and constructing 9.06 kilometres of elevated roads from Panchabati in Narayanganj to the Muktarpur Bridge on the Dhaleshwari River.
Initiated in January 2021, the project's estimated cost was Tk 22.43 billion. Now the Bridges Division has sent the first revision proposal, increasing the cost to Tk 33.43 billion and extending the deadline by one more year.
The cost has been hiked due to the increase in land acquisition expenditures, pressure on the exchange rate, and additional expenses for shifting utilities and some other work, said Planning Commission officials.
"If implementation was expedited following proper feasibility studies, the project deadlines would not have to be extended and the costs would not have to be increased either," Dr Mustafa K Mujeri, former director general at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), told The Financial Express.
He said the costs of some projects may have been deliberately underestimated to secure easier approval but adjustments are now being made.
The increase in costs is attributed to various factors, including the rise in product prices due to delays and currency depreciation, he further said.
Dr Mujeri advised breaking free from this trend to prevent the waste of public funds.
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