Dhaka-Sylhet Highway 4-lane project may get delayed

Implementation of Dhaka-Sylhet Highway four-lane project is still facing uncertainty even almost a year after negotiation with its possible Chinese contractor, sources said.
The authority concerned - Roads and Highways Department (RHD) - is yet to sign an agreement with the Chinese company - China Harbor Engineering Company Limited (CHEC) - due to the high-cost of construction, as mentioned in its proposal.
They also said beginning of work for expanding the country's one of the important highways to a four-lane one is still uncertain although it is a regional corridor and a part of Asian Highway-2.
RHD can neither accept CHEC's proposal nor can it go for the previous choice of getting fund for the project from development partners.
Dhaka-Sylhet Highway four-lane project was one of the potential projects of Asian Development Bank (ADB). However, ADB dropped the project from its 2018 pipeline due to signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with CHEC last year.
Sources said RHD sat with CHEC several times since signing the MoU in October 9, 2016, under government-to-government (G2G) arrangement.
But the company stuck to its proposal of constructing 226 km of the highway at a cost of around Tk 170 billion.
Officials said CHEC's proposed cost was almost double than the cost estimated by RHD after conducting feasibility study and detailed design of the project.
"The company is yet to shift from its original proposal, which is found too high by the negotiation committee," said an official involved with the project.
He said following failure to reach a consensus by the negotiation committee, the matter is now under review of the high-ups.
RHD signed the MoU with the Chinese company with the condition of fixing its proposed price after negotiation, as RHD's cost was rated at the project's design stage with its 2014 schedule.
Officials said after rescheduling the cost with RHD's 2015 schedule, the Chinese company's proposal is still found costly.
After feasibility study and detailed design, RHD estimated the cost of 286-km Dhaka-Sylhet Highway up to Tamabil to establish regional corridor with Indian State of Meghalaya.
Following signing of the MoU with CHEC, RHD recast the cost of civil work of 226 km at Tk 91.84 billion, which was raised to Tk 126.65 billion after rescheduling with its 2015 rate.
Dhaka-Sylhet Highway is a part of Asian Highway-2, crossing Bangladesh through Banglabandha and Tamabil via Joydebpur, Dhaka, Kanchpur and Sylhet. The target date for its completion is mid-2019.
It is learnt that CHEC initially wanted to redesign the entire 226-km corridor according to own design. The company later submitted the proposal following RHD's instruction to follow its design. But the costs of the two proposals are almost the same.
According to the MoU, the company was scheduled to start construction of the project following RHD's design and complete it by 2019.
RHD chief engineer Ibne Alam Hasan said negotiation is still going on, and the gap between RHD and CHEC is gradually reducing.
But, the sources said the department is already frustrated in dealing with the Chinese company.
He, however, said the project will be implemented even with the government fund without delay due to importance of the corridor.
Cost of Dhaka-Sylhet Highway four-lane project has been fixed at a much higher rate than the costs of the country two other highway four-lane projects.
Per km cost of Dhaka-Chittagong Highway and Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway four-lane projects is more than three times lower than Dhaka-Sylhet Highway four-lane project cost.
RHD, however, said the cost of Dhaka-Sylhet Highway four-lane project was estimated with almost total restructuring of the existing two-lane road, having 7.2 metre width on each sides and 3.6 km space for slow movement of vehicular traffic.
smunima@yahoo.com