Cox's Bazar Railway Station losing grandeur in absence of an operator

The state-of-the-art Cox's Bazar Railway Station building has already started losing its glossy look for the unavailability of an interested party to conduct its overall management and operation over the past two years since its inauguration.
Sources said though eight parties bought the bid documents after the process was opened on January 25 last, but none submitted their proposal on the last day of its closure on April 06.
The Bangladesh Railway (BR), meanwhile, extended the bid submission period twice and finally closed it on April 05 with no proposal.
Insiders said the bidders expressed their unwillingness to participate in the bid for disagreeing with the BR's various demands.
For example, they said, the bidders prefer at least 20 years of contract instead of the BR's proposed 12 years in the bid document along with two years of grace period of payment.
They also said as the BR demanded Tk 50 million non-refundable fund and Tk150 performance guarantees from the bidders, they also showed reservation on the demand.
"They contact the BR sharing that it would take time to vibrant the commercial spaces in the station building and grace period is necessary," said one of them preferring not to be named.
He, however, said the amount the bidders want to share with the BR is also not acceptable to the authorities.
The BR constructed the six-storey Cox's Bazar Railway Station building with the design of seashell (oyster) by spending Tk 2.15 billion symbolising the design with tourism in the longest sea beach.
The 238,867 square feet building that stands on 22.72 acres of land was constructed in November 2023 with the state-of-the-art architectural design keeping electromechanical
system and wide range of modern facilities in its six floors.
Apart from regular railway facilities, it includes 40 deluxe rooms, shopping malls, huge parking area, advertisement facilities etc.
Besides, there are 17 more establishments outside the building, including an administrative building, offices, multipurpose halls, food courts,
restaurants, ATM booths, post offices, luggage lockers and passenger restrooms.
The BR has constructed the building as part of its Tk 183.40 billion
Dohazari-Cox's Bazar Rail Line construction project.
This station is part of the Tk 18,340 crore Dohazari-Cox's Bazar railway construction project.

smunima@yahoo.com