Dhk-Ctg 4-lane highway project unlikely to be completed this year

The Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway project, the government's priority project during its last tenure, is unlikely to be completed this year.
The reason behind the delay is an issue centring financial loss, which the project's main Chinese contractor claims it has incurred due to the losing of the peak construction season for political turmoil in the country.
Sources said Sinohydro Corporation Ltd officially informed the project office under the ministry of communications about their financial loss of around Tk 3.0 billion and that it has refrained from carrying out the construction work during the remaining one month of the peak construction period.
They said although the current peak season has a few days left for carrying out the construction, the company is unwilling to start the work for fear of going through further losses.
The Chinese company got the work of Tk 32 billion Dhaka-Chittagong Four-lane Highway project to widen 70 per cent of the 193-kilometre Dhaka-Chittagone corridor in 2010, but it could complete only around 30 per cent of its assigned work.
Project officials said since last February, the company has been found to be very irregular at the construction site. It showed reasons like political unrest, continuation of long monsoon afterward and so on.
They also cited 'financial loss' as reason for seeking extension of the project's completion target to December, 2014, from 2012. The complexity was compounded by a crisis of construction materials.
Sources said the Chinese company has showed its unwillingness to start the work as it would take a few days more to bring construction materials to the construction sites.
"Demand for construction materials like stone, sand etc has already increased, so have the prices as countrywide road construction work remained suspended during the last two to three months. Besides, long traffic tailbacks on the highways delay transportation of the materials to the construction sites," said a contractor involved with the project to justify the stoppage of work.
He said it would not be possible for the project's office to complete the four-lane work of the country's main economic corridor by December.
"We have already lost the current peak season. The last peak season was also hit both by some political programmes and early monsoon. So it is impossible to complete the major portion of work by December next using only one season," said an official at the Dhaka-Chittagong Four-lane project.
However, Communications Minister Obaidul Quader has raised the issue with the Chinese ambassador, when he called on the minister at his office on Thursday and sought his cooperation to start the work without delay.
Sources said the Chinese ambassador also raised the issue of 'huge financial loss' of the company due to delay in the project's progress and political turmoil. He assured the minister of talking with the Chinese company to resolve the crisis.
Sources said Sinohydro refrained from working as its loss has been going up from its original estimate, on which it availed the work order.
The issue of giving compensation to the Chinese firm was also discussed during the meeting between the minister and ambassador, but sources said it would take more time as it would have to be settled by an arbitration body as per the public procurement rule.
The government has taken the Dhaka Chittagong four-lane project to turn the two-lane highway into a four-lane one for meeting the increased traffic rush on the corridor connecting the capital Dhaka with the main port of Chittagong.
But since its start, the project has faced various crises like scarcity of sands and inadequate allocation of funds.
Official records show that both financial and physical progress in the Tk 32 billion project were unsatisfactory as only 40 per cent physical work has been completed. Just 20-kilometre (km) bitumen work, out of the 193 km highway, has been completed till June.
The project has already been revised three times extending the completion time to December 2014, and increasing the budget from Tk 24 billion to Tk 34 billion.
The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) awarded the 192.3km Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane work to three constructing firms -  Sinohydro Corporation Ltd of China, Reza Construction Ltd and Taher Brothers-ACL joint venture of Bangladesh in 2010. Of the total work, the Chinese firm is responsible for completing 70 per cent of the work in seven packages, while the two Bangladesh firms are to go ahead with the rest three packages.