Controversial road project to be taken up under PPP
Friday, 29 January 2010
Munima Sultana
The government has taken a fresh step to implement the controversial Road Sector Reform Project (RSRP) through public-private-partnership (PPP), as the World Bank (WB) is sticking to its decision not to fund it.
The leading donor of the country's transport sector stopped supporting the project in August due to "massive graft and shoddy work" in some ongoing and past schemes.
Earlier, it had assured the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) of providing assistance worth $192 million for executing the $253 million RSRP.
Officials said the government, during last few months, has tried to convince the WB to support the project again, mentioning that it would remove the corrupt people from the project after investigation. But the bank until now has stuck to its stance, they added.
After the rejection, the Ministry of Communication took fresh steps to implement two of the RSRP's main schemes including the Dhaka-Mymensingh four-lane project from the government's own fund.
But the ministry is now trying to implement the scheme through PPP after it has found implementation through Build Operate and Transfer (BOT)/PPP basis would be time consuming.
The officials said the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), during its recent meeting, rejected the RHD proposal to implement the project from GOB fund, and suggested the ministry to try to implement it through BOT/PPP first.
An official of the ministry said they have evaluated all possible means through Private Infrastructure Committee (PICOM) and Bangladesh Private Sector Infrastructure Guideline (BPSIG), and took the decision to implement the RSRP through PPP to reduce its implementation time.
"We evaluate all the possible ways through BPSIG, PICOM and Board of Investment, and found that at least two-and-a-half years would be needed to start the four-lane project under the BOT/PPP system," he added.
The ministry has already prepared the summary of the Mymensingh expressway project under RSRP, proposing to construct it through PPP, and has sought permission from the CCEA to call pre-qualification tender. The CCEA is yet to fix time for its next meeting.
According to the summary, the 88-kilometre road from Tongi to Mymensingh would be turned into four lanes at a cost of Tk 8.0 billion, as Tongi-Joydevpur part of the highway has already been widened under another project of RHD.
It said the highway widening is important to accommodate the increasing number of vehicles as well as to maintain proper connectivity between the northern part and the rest of the country.
The government has taken a fresh step to implement the controversial Road Sector Reform Project (RSRP) through public-private-partnership (PPP), as the World Bank (WB) is sticking to its decision not to fund it.
The leading donor of the country's transport sector stopped supporting the project in August due to "massive graft and shoddy work" in some ongoing and past schemes.
Earlier, it had assured the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) of providing assistance worth $192 million for executing the $253 million RSRP.
Officials said the government, during last few months, has tried to convince the WB to support the project again, mentioning that it would remove the corrupt people from the project after investigation. But the bank until now has stuck to its stance, they added.
After the rejection, the Ministry of Communication took fresh steps to implement two of the RSRP's main schemes including the Dhaka-Mymensingh four-lane project from the government's own fund.
But the ministry is now trying to implement the scheme through PPP after it has found implementation through Build Operate and Transfer (BOT)/PPP basis would be time consuming.
The officials said the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), during its recent meeting, rejected the RHD proposal to implement the project from GOB fund, and suggested the ministry to try to implement it through BOT/PPP first.
An official of the ministry said they have evaluated all possible means through Private Infrastructure Committee (PICOM) and Bangladesh Private Sector Infrastructure Guideline (BPSIG), and took the decision to implement the RSRP through PPP to reduce its implementation time.
"We evaluate all the possible ways through BPSIG, PICOM and Board of Investment, and found that at least two-and-a-half years would be needed to start the four-lane project under the BOT/PPP system," he added.
The ministry has already prepared the summary of the Mymensingh expressway project under RSRP, proposing to construct it through PPP, and has sought permission from the CCEA to call pre-qualification tender. The CCEA is yet to fix time for its next meeting.
According to the summary, the 88-kilometre road from Tongi to Mymensingh would be turned into four lanes at a cost of Tk 8.0 billion, as Tongi-Joydevpur part of the highway has already been widened under another project of RHD.
It said the highway widening is important to accommodate the increasing number of vehicles as well as to maintain proper connectivity between the northern part and the rest of the country.