Cumulative BR loss now Tk 23.4b
Monday, 27 July 2009
Monira Begum Munni
The cumulative loss incurred by Bangladesh Railway (BR) from 2000 to 2008 stood at Tk.23.40 billion since, according to the Bangladesh Economic Survey 2009.
Informed sources attributed the chronic losses to corrupt practices, mismanagement and operational deficiencies within BR.
In the last fiscal, BR incurred a loss of over Tk 5.0 billion as its expenditure was over Tk 10.90 billion against an income of over Tk 5.83 billion.
Bangladesh Railway earned Tk 870.66 million from transportation of goods during the last fiscal year against Tk 869.59 million in FY 2007-08.
The earnings from passenger transportation were about Tk 5.67 billion during 2008-09 against Tk 5.61 billion during 2007-08.
Director (Traffic) of Bangladesh Railway Md Belal Uddin told the FE’ "Though our earnings from goods transportation decreased by 10 per cent, earnings from passenger tickets sales increased by about 25 per cent."
Private investment, especially GrameenPhone (GP) that took lease of optical fibre network from BR, might decrease this year as GP has no plans for development works this year, the director added.
According to railway study, about 55 million passengers traveled by train last year.
Most of the train passengers are lower-middle and poor classes of people. They use train services because the fares are economical and costs about half of what it costs to travel by buses, Belal Uddin added.
A total of 440 trains were plying on different routes in the 1988-89 across the country under BR network. The number of trains in operation declined to 295 in the current year of which 246 are passengers and 49 freight trains.
BR sources said turning the railway into a corporate entity as part of a Tk 10.57 billion Railway Improvement Project approved by Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) recently might bring some dynamism in the sector.
The cumulative loss incurred by Bangladesh Railway (BR) from 2000 to 2008 stood at Tk.23.40 billion since, according to the Bangladesh Economic Survey 2009.
Informed sources attributed the chronic losses to corrupt practices, mismanagement and operational deficiencies within BR.
In the last fiscal, BR incurred a loss of over Tk 5.0 billion as its expenditure was over Tk 10.90 billion against an income of over Tk 5.83 billion.
Bangladesh Railway earned Tk 870.66 million from transportation of goods during the last fiscal year against Tk 869.59 million in FY 2007-08.
The earnings from passenger transportation were about Tk 5.67 billion during 2008-09 against Tk 5.61 billion during 2007-08.
Director (Traffic) of Bangladesh Railway Md Belal Uddin told the FE’ "Though our earnings from goods transportation decreased by 10 per cent, earnings from passenger tickets sales increased by about 25 per cent."
Private investment, especially GrameenPhone (GP) that took lease of optical fibre network from BR, might decrease this year as GP has no plans for development works this year, the director added.
According to railway study, about 55 million passengers traveled by train last year.
Most of the train passengers are lower-middle and poor classes of people. They use train services because the fares are economical and costs about half of what it costs to travel by buses, Belal Uddin added.
A total of 440 trains were plying on different routes in the 1988-89 across the country under BR network. The number of trains in operation declined to 295 in the current year of which 246 are passengers and 49 freight trains.
BR sources said turning the railway into a corporate entity as part of a Tk 10.57 billion Railway Improvement Project approved by Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) recently might bring some dynamism in the sector.