RHD seeks 223pc hike in land acquisition for 232km road

Land acquisition for the widening of a 232-kilometre road alone will require Tk 60.50 billion, as the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has hiked the cost more than three times the original estimation, insiders said on Monday.
After failing to acquire the land in five years, the RHD has recently requested an additional two years, until June 2025 and a 223 per cent increase in funds to complete the acquisition for the widening of the Faridpur-Bhanga-Barisal-Patuakhali-Kuakata highways (N8).
Through a revised Development Project Proposal (DPP) titled "Land Acquisition for Upgrading the Faridpur-Bhanga-Barisal-Patuakhali-Kuakata Road into 4-Lane Project", the state-owned road developer has sought Tk 41.83 billion in additional funds, said the insiders.
In July 2018, the government approved a cost of Tk 18.76 billion for the project, with a deadline set for June 2020.
RHD officials said that once the land acquisition is completed, the RHD will proceed with another project to upgrade the Faridpur-Kuakata (N8) highways into a 6-lane road, including two lanes for slow-moving vehicles (SMVs).
The project deadline has already been extended twice, first until June 2022 and then until June 2023.
Yet, the RHD has once again failed to finalise the land acquisition and is now seeking an additional two years and 223 per cent more funds than originally estimated, according to project insiders.
An RHD official said that they have submitted the revised project proposal to the Planning Commission (PC) for approval.
The entire Tk60.50 billion will be provided from the government's internal resources.
When asked, the official told this correspondent that the increase in land acquisition has led to a higher overall project cost.
Initially, under the original Tk 18.76 billion project, the plan was to acquire 302.70 acres of land. However, this has now been raised to 860.662 acres in order to upgrade the 232km highways, the RHD official said.
A senior official from the Planning Commission said the project lacked a proper feasibility study and therefore now requires revision.
"This is the problem of our project implementing agencies. They usually undertake projects without feasibility which ultimately increases the cost and the timeline," said the official.
According to the revised Development Project Proposal (DPP), the RHD has kept aside Tk 58.05 billion for land acquisition while the remaining Tk 2.45 billion will be spent for ancillary works.
Despite multiple attempts to contact the responsible engineer of the RHD at Barisal Division, the official could not be reached over the phone.

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