Both the cost and time of constructing Khulna-Mongla railway under Indian fund support will now double from the original estimates for alleged procrastination in the process of starting up the project.
Officials said the rail-line project would be delayed by another three and a half years and require more than double the funds originally estimated.
Railway Ministry officials said Bangladesh Railway (BR) has sought 104 per cent higher funds, amounting to Tk 35.13 billion, than the original cost of Tk 17.21 billion for installing the broad-gauge rail line.
Besides, it has also sought three and a half years' additional time, up to June 2018, for completing the construction works due to its failure to get going with implementation works in time, they said.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on December 21, 2010 had approved the project involving Tk 17.21 billion with December 2013 as the cut-off time for completion.
The Planning Commission (PC) in 2013 extended the project-execution timeline by another year to December 2014, without increasing the cost, following request from the BR.
"We have no way but to increase the cost as the feasibility study has changed some segments of the design of the original project. After that the project implementation will take another three and a half years," SK Chakrabarty, a BR General Manager, told the FE.
"Basically, the BR had taken up the project without proper feasibility study in 2010. An Indian consulting firm has now conducted a study and changed its design. Based on the study report, we have revised the project," he added.
A senior Planning Commission official said since the project was taken up without proper feasibility study, now it is caught in implementation delays.
After extending the US$1.0 billion line of credit (LoC) by the Indian government in 2010, some Bangladesh government agencies and ministries were in a hurry to take up projects.
The Railway Ministry alone had taken up 13 development projects under the billion-dollar Indian assistance for the sector.
India in 2010 confirmed the $1.0 billion line of credit (LoC) to facilitate improvement of Bangladesh's infrastructure. Later, the lender converted its $200 million out of the LoC to grants.
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