Stocktaking of four PPP projects at PMO today

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) sits with the government agencies concerned today (Tuesday) to review the progress made so far on four public-private partnership (PPP) projects that have lost gear, officials said.
On the table for the stocktaking will be Dhaka elevated expressway (DEE) project of Bangladesh Bridges Authority, Shantinagar to Dhaka-Mawa road (Jhilmil residential area) flyover of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK), converting Dhaka bypass road to 4-lane one under the Roads and Highways Department (RHD), and Multimode Surveillance System (Radar) project of Bangladesh Civil Aviation Authority.
The PMO officials said Monday that the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister M Abul Kalam Azad would sit with the project officials and the line ministries for a review the PPP projects.
Secretaries of three ministries and a Planning Commission (PC) member, the RAJUK chairman and other officials will attend the meeting.
"We will seek to know the update on the four PPP projects. Besides, we will also review the progress achieved so far in the implementation of the time-bound action plans," a senior government official said.
He said they would also try to find out the hurdles on the way to executing the projects.
The government signed a deal with the Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited to construct the Tk 89.40 billion Dhaka elevated expressway on PPP basis in December 2013 with a view to mitigating nagging traffic congestion in the capital city.
The project's physical works are yet to begin despite the lapse of nearly two years since the signing of the agreement, project-insiders said.
In January 2013, the cabinet committee on economic affairs of the government approved the construction of the nearly US$1.5 billion flyover on Shantinagar-Mawa route.
The RAJUK, however, has so far failed to select any private partner under the PPP arrangement for constructing the flyover, even after the passage of nearly two and a half years since the government endorsement came for starting works, officials said.
And RHD has so far made little progress in starting work on converting the Dhaka bypass (Joydevpur-Debogram-Bhulta-Madanpur) into a four-lane one under the new development paradigm (PPP arrangement).
Besides, the supply, installation and commissioning of a multimodal surveillance system (radar) at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA), Dhaka, under the PPP has also failed to see any headway.
"This project's progress is also very slow," said one of the officials.
The PMO has taken initiative to expedite the PPP projects. As per the initiative, it wants to identify hurdles on way to implementation of those projects, said the official.
"Progress on the PPP projects is very unsatisfactory," a PC official said.
The government has already constructed the Gulistan-Jatrabari flyover and some power plants under the PPP arrangements in Bangladesh. But the other major projects are yet to see any remarkable progress.
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