Spl fund to back mega projects in the offing

The government, for the first time, is set to create a special fund to finance its mega projects for their smooth implementation, officials said.
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) will sit today (Monday) to discuss the pros and cons of creating the proposed fund.
"We are mulling allotting a separate fund for facilitating the government's large-scale development projects," MoF additional secretary Jalal Ahmed told the FE on Sunday.
The move is taken to provide special funding support to the mega projects, especially when those would face any financial problem, he added.
Presently, funds for the mega projects are allocated in the usual budget, and there is no separate allocation or budget for them, a senior official of the ministry said.
Usually, progress in implementation of the development projects, including the mega projects, slows down due to delay in allocation of necessary funds.
But the proposed fund, when created, would help accelerate the execution of mega projects although those face any financial difficulties, he mentioned.
Currently, eight fast-track projects are being implemented in the country, and Padma Multipurpose Bridge is one of them.
Recently, the government constituted a high-powered inter-ministerial committee to help accelerate implementation of the project.
The other fast-track projects are: Metro-rail, Rooppur nuclear power plant, Sonadia deep-seaport, Paira seaport, Matarbari coal-fired power station, Rampal 1,320-MW thermal power plant, and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal.
Three of the eight mega projects are progressing satisfactorily, while five others still lag behind the targets for delay in different stages of implementation, an official concerned said.
According to him, Padma Multipurpose Bridge, metro-rail and Rooppur nuclear power plant projects are doing well.
However, Sonadia deep-sea port, Paira seaport, Matarbari coal-fired power station, Rampal 1,320-mw thermal power plant, and LNG terminal projects are facing difficulties in their implementation.
The government has taken up these eight gigantic projects under fast-track programme. These are monitored by a committee, headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
About the progress on deep-sea port project, officials said the government is yet to finalise its decision as to whether it would be set up at Sonadia or not.
The government is now considering Paira in Patuakhali and Matarbari in Cox's Bazar for setting up the deep-seaport instead of Sonadia.
More than three years ago, some private sector and government-owned companies from Denmark, the UAE, China, India and Germany showed their interest and submitted proposals for developing Sonadia as a deep-seaport.
But the government is going slow with this mega project, the officials added.
The LNG terminal project at Maheshkhali is also in limbo although the government decided to set it up five years back.
In 2010, Petrobangla issued pre-qualification tender for development of the terminal to find suitable investors.
The organisation, in August 2015, signed the term-sheet with Singapore-based Excelerate Energy Limited Partnership for the LNG terminal use agreement.
The company will set up the country's first floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU), popularly known as LNG terminal, on the offshore island in the Bay of Bengal.
More than three years back the government had taken up the much-talked-about 1,320-MW coal-fired power plant at Rampal.
Bangladesh signed a deal with India for the joint-venture (JV) power project in January 2012. The state-run power companies of the two countries formed the JV to implement the project.
Power Division officials said they have developed the land on the project site, and are now constructing the connecting road for the proposed power plant.
The company recently floated pre-qualification tender for the international contractors for setting up the power station.
The government, also nearly three years back, decided to set up Paira seaport in Patuakhali. But the port's development work is going on at a snail's pace.
Bangladesh's largest Tk 359.84-billion cost 1,200-MW Matarbari coal-based power project is also going on slowly though it was taken up in 2014.
The government has acquired land for the power station. But construction work of the main power plant and other related works are still far off the mark, as the government is yet to select contractors.
Meanwhile, the project work of Tk 287.93-billion Padma Multipurpose Bridge is progressing at a satisfactory pace.
The government officials said the setting up of Rooppur nuclear power station is also going on at a good pace.
The government undertook the power generation project in 2009, after indecision for decades over nuclear power option.
Another big-venture undertaking is Tk 219.85-billion Uttara-Motijheel metro-rail project, initiated in 2012.  
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