Revised master plan turns faulty again

Bangladesh Railway's bid for repairing faults in its 20-year development master plan, designed by foreign consultants, received a fresh blow for wasteful deviations.
Sources said the submission of incomplete final draft proposing redoubled investment mainly derailed the rail-development plan conceived for such longer term.
According to the sources, the final draft of BR's revised master plan proposed execution of 215 projects at an estimated cost of around Tk 4500 billion to be needed up to the year 2045.
The original master plan had proposed implementing 235 projects with a cost of Tk 2339.44 billion.
The BR authorities have already identified a number of faults in the final draft submitted by its foreign consultants in December last. Repetition of projects, lack of proper study on proposed new train routes and services form the fault line in the planning, financed by a foreign funding agency.
There has also been a lack of links for incorporation of the master plan into the transport sector's existing plans, including revised strategic transport plan (RSTP) and Sustainable Development Goals.
Officials said the BR started reviewing the final draft but still did not complete the reappraisal.
During the initial review, many projects were found already merged with other projects or renaming in the ongoing projects of the state-owned rail operator, they added.
Questions have arisen over the selection of projects for implementing phase-wise in the draft as many urgent projects, according to the BR, have not been recommended in the first phase to be completed by 2020.
"We are still working on the draft. It is not final," said an official, adding that there is still scope to improve the master plan in consultation with all stakeholders.
He, however, wouldn't consider the draft as faulty as he said the consultants did not have enough time to work on the revision of the first master plan.
Now BR is learnt to have made a move to extend the time for the foreign consultants until June 2017 upon request from the Asian Development Bank that supported the technical project.
The ADB requested the BR to extend the project tenure on ground that only a year was not enough to finalise the master plan which involves a huge volume of work.
Regarding the enormous increase in the project costs proposed in the revised master plan, officials cited cost escalation of many existing projects and projects in the pipeline. Such upward estimation was prompted by the experience of project cost hike in Dohazari-Cox's Bazar new rail project.
Though the BR authorities had estimated the Dohazari-Cox's Bazar rail cost at Tk 1.8 billion to develop regional corridor with Trans-Asia Railway network, it, however, went up to Tk 180 billion after feasibility study and detailed design.
The officials said the consultants made fresh calculations on land acquisition and inflation, challenges facing the developing of new railway corridor in north and south zones where BR has no lands or tracks.
Costs of many important railway-sector projects, including the Padma Bridge Rail Link project, Pyra Port rail-connectivity project and Kalukhali-Bhatiapara-Gopalganj-Tongipara project, Akhaura-Laksam and Akhaura-Agartala double lines were estimated much higher than the first estimated cost. Many were not included in the first list.
The BR took the initiative to revise its 20-year Master Plan within three years of its adoption due to finding faults during implementing many projects.
CPCS Transcom Limited of Canada was appointed consultant by the ADB end of 2015 with the objectives to assist the state-owned train operator in getting proper guidelines, particularly in selecting priority projects.
There was no such recommendation like phase-wise implementation of projects in setting priority.
According to BR, due to lack of such guidelines, it faced problems in getting financial support from development partners in many important projects and the ADB came forward to support conducting studies to make a complete and comprehensive plan.
According to the sources, the updated master plan is supposed to carry traffic survey with data analysis, ascertain the need and justification for the priority projects by considering international practices and development trends in new technology.
But such vision and direction are lacking in the lavish development blueprint for the popular mode of transport, they said.
    smunima@yahoo.com