Construction to fall behind schedule as Chinese bank yet to confirm loan

Bangladesh Railway (BR) has expressed its inability to start construction of the Padma Bridge railway link project as per schedule, officials said, as a loan of US$ 3.14 billion from Chinese EXIM Bank is yet to be confirmed.
As a result, the BR is set to surrender also the current fiscal year's budgetary allocation for the project, apparently making uncertain the possibility to run the train service through the under-construction bridge on the day of its inauguration as expected by the government.    
Sources said a Chinese contractor was supposed to start construction of the rail track early this year, preferably by June.
But, they said, the BR at a meeting with Economic Relations Division (ERD) Sunday expressed its inability to start implementation of the project in the current fiscal year.
The meeting on projection of project assistance could not also come up with any indication that the loan would be released shortly. "There is hardly any scope of signing the loan agreement by this time," said an official.
The BR had earlier signed a US$ 3.14 billion commercial contract with China Railway Group Ltd through a negotiation under the government- to-government arrangement.
According to the BR, a total of Tk 48 billion, including a project assistance of Tk 20 billion, was allocated for the FY 2016-17. A portion of the budget was supposed to have been spent by the BR on land acquisition for construction of the rail track.
"We will not be able to spend the entire budgetary allocation of Tk 48.00 billion during the current fiscal year," said an official at the BR.
The BR has taken the project to construct 225-km rail route on both sides of the Padma Bridge by June, 2022.
As part of the project, a section of the rail track over the Padma Bridge is planned to be completed by 2018 so that the train services could be simultaneously launched with the opening of the bridge that would connect nine south-western districts with the capital.
The government has included the project in the fast track list to speed up the process of implementation.
The rail link project is planned to be constructed in four sections -- Dhaka-Gendaria route, Gendaria-Mawa, Mawa-Bhanga Junction via Padma Bridge and Bhanga-Jessore Bridge.
The third section, which is Mawa-Bhanga junction-Bhanga via Padma Bridge, has been planned to be completed by 2018 to run trains over the country's longest Padma Bridge on the inaugural day.
    smunima@yahoo.com