Fresh feasibility study planned
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Munima Sultana
All efforts of the government to implement US$ 3.0 billion second Dhaka-Chittagong highway project went in vain due to failure in attracting investors which led to the start of a fresh feasibility study. Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain has already requested the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to conduct the study for making it more investor-friendly by removing the limitations of the previous study. The communications ministry took the 'Access control Dhaka-Chittagong express highway' project under the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) in 2008 basing on a Canadian firm's feasibility study. But the project failed to attract investors despite calling of pre-qualification (PQ) bidding four times. The last PQ bidding was called in November 2010. RHD officials said the project could not be executed due to land aequisition-related problems as investors were responsible to do it and the major part of 1,254 hectares was to be acquired from agricultural land. Before getting any assurance of fund, the RHD meanwhile invited expression of interest from the consulting firms in February this year and short-listed seven firms. The communications minister said the fresh study has been planned to avoid acquiring of agricultural land and make the project attractive to the investors ensuring that fewer people are affected. "As the government gives importance to saving agricultural land, we have requested the ADB to update the study for making the project viable as the country will need to manage more traffic in the coming days," he said. "We want to make the project attractive to the investors. We believe, we will be able to do it as we did in case of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway," the minister told the FE. The Dhaka-Chittagong access control highway project was first taken basing on a Malaysian company's feasibility study in 2005. But the cabinet approved it in July, 2006 basing on a separate study conducted through the government-appointed Canadian company SNC Lavalin Int'l Inc. The firm proposed three routes for the highway and the government chose the shortest route which started from Jatrabari in Dhaka to Alongkar Mor of Chittagong via Hasanpur of Daudkandi, Mirershorai and Sitakundo. The RHD invited bids on the access control highway in 2007 and 2008 under Bangladesh Private Sector Infrastructure Guidelines. But both the bid ended with no participation from local or international bidders. The third PQ bidding, which was called on January 22 last year, also received thin response with only an Indian firm and a US-China joint venture responding. They were also not qualified for the project. The officials said the RHD called the fresh PQ bidding on November 7 last year soon after getting approval from the communications ministry through public-private partnership (PPP). The Dhaka-Chittagong access control highway was the prime demand of the business community and experts proposed to construct the highway to boost foreign trade, enhance the country's competitive advantage and cut the cost of export.
All efforts of the government to implement US$ 3.0 billion second Dhaka-Chittagong highway project went in vain due to failure in attracting investors which led to the start of a fresh feasibility study. Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain has already requested the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to conduct the study for making it more investor-friendly by removing the limitations of the previous study. The communications ministry took the 'Access control Dhaka-Chittagong express highway' project under the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) in 2008 basing on a Canadian firm's feasibility study. But the project failed to attract investors despite calling of pre-qualification (PQ) bidding four times. The last PQ bidding was called in November 2010. RHD officials said the project could not be executed due to land aequisition-related problems as investors were responsible to do it and the major part of 1,254 hectares was to be acquired from agricultural land. Before getting any assurance of fund, the RHD meanwhile invited expression of interest from the consulting firms in February this year and short-listed seven firms. The communications minister said the fresh study has been planned to avoid acquiring of agricultural land and make the project attractive to the investors ensuring that fewer people are affected. "As the government gives importance to saving agricultural land, we have requested the ADB to update the study for making the project viable as the country will need to manage more traffic in the coming days," he said. "We want to make the project attractive to the investors. We believe, we will be able to do it as we did in case of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway," the minister told the FE. The Dhaka-Chittagong access control highway project was first taken basing on a Malaysian company's feasibility study in 2005. But the cabinet approved it in July, 2006 basing on a separate study conducted through the government-appointed Canadian company SNC Lavalin Int'l Inc. The firm proposed three routes for the highway and the government chose the shortest route which started from Jatrabari in Dhaka to Alongkar Mor of Chittagong via Hasanpur of Daudkandi, Mirershorai and Sitakundo. The RHD invited bids on the access control highway in 2007 and 2008 under Bangladesh Private Sector Infrastructure Guidelines. But both the bid ended with no participation from local or international bidders. The third PQ bidding, which was called on January 22 last year, also received thin response with only an Indian firm and a US-China joint venture responding. They were also not qualified for the project. The officials said the RHD called the fresh PQ bidding on November 7 last year soon after getting approval from the communications ministry through public-private partnership (PPP). The Dhaka-Chittagong access control highway was the prime demand of the business community and experts proposed to construct the highway to boost foreign trade, enhance the country's competitive advantage and cut the cost of export.