Project to be placed before ECNEC today

The government is set to approve a Tk 65.04 billion project for setting up Akhaura-Laksham railway track amid fears over likely 'misuse' of funds in procuring 30 vehicles including 10 SUV luxury jeeps, officials said Monday.
Planning Commission officials said they would place the project proposal of the Bangladesh Railway (BR) before the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), to be held today (Tuesday), for getting approval.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will preside over the meeting.
Earlier, the state-owned railway had sought approval of the project for upgrading the existing Akhaura-Laksham 71-kilometre metre-gauge (MG) railway line to a dual-gauge (DG) double line at a cost of Tk 65.04 billion from the Planning Commission.
With the credit support of the Asian Development Bank and the European Investment Bank, the BR has undertaken the project to upgrade the existing Akhaura-Laksham MG railway line on the Dhaka-Chittagong railway track into DG double line for carrying passengers and freight smoothly.
Under the Tk 65.04 billion project, the BR in the development project proposal (DPP) has proposed purchase of 30 vehicles-- 10 SUV jeeps, 5 microbuses and 15 double-cabin pickups, said a senior PC official.
According to the DPP, the luxurious SUV cars will cost Tk 18.2 million, the double-cabin pick-ups Tk 10.5 million, and microbuses Tk 5.0 million each.
The PC official said in the preliminary DPP, the BR proposed purchase of 55 vehicles-15 SUV jeeps, 30 double-cabin pickups and 10 microbuses, where Tk 630 million was set aside in the project.
 "But the Project Evaluation Committee (PEC) has recommended cutting of the number of vehicles proposed for purchase for the development project. Now it has been brought down to 30 vehicles," he said.
Ministry of Railway officials said the BR had proposed to purchase 55 vehicles first in a bid to facilitate the project works.
 "This initiative of the BR looks as if they are living in a paradise. It will be the record highest spending by the BR to buy vehicles under one project," said a government official, who wanted to remain unnamed.
He said this is simply 'misuse' of public funds as such huge number of cars with the public tax money is not needed  for a 71-kilometre railway track setting-up project.
When asked, a BR official said: "They have shortage of cars and vehicles in their fleet. If those cars could be purchased, the Railway's capacity will be boosted facilitating the project implementation and other works."
When asked, another senior PC official said the BR's proposal for buying 55 cars was a very ambitious one under a single project.
He said in recent years, it has become a 'culture' of the government agencies to buy huge number of vehicles under almost all of their development projects.
The BR Director General Md Tafazzal Hossain could not be contacted through cell phone. He was not receiving the call after several attempts by this reporter.
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