Karnaphuli Tunnel Service Area will be leased to private sector to deal with heavy losses the Karnaphuli underwater tunnel and the service area have been incurring daily.
The housing facilities in the service area, which surrounds the country's first underwater tunnel, have remained mostly unused since it was made open for use in December 2024.
Confirming that the accommodation facilities will be given to the private sector, Karnaphuli Tunnel Project Superintendent Engineer Abul Kalam Azad said, "Tenders will be invited soon. Leasing these bungalows to a tourism-focused organisation could help minimise the government's losses."
The daily maintenance loss incurred by the tunnel -- inaugurated in 2023 -- is Tk 2.6 million as it has not been receiving the expected traffic, according to sources.
The service area has 30 bungalows, a seven-star rest house, a conference center, a health center, a helipad, a mosque, police stations and fire service stations at the Anwara end of the project. There is also a museum on the heritage of Chattogram. Air conditioning systems with a capacity of 1,182 tonnes have been installed in these facilities. The construction works of the project was completed in June last year.
Preferring anonymity, maintenance staff at the Karnaphuli Tunnel Service Area said that every bungalow has state-of-the-art furniture and facilities.
"Except for the occasional visits of senior officials of the bridge authority and some important state officials and guests, no one comes here and the entire rest house area is almost empty," the staff members said. "Many government officials come to see the beauty," they also said.
Sources said, a loan of Tk 670 million from China, used in the construction of the tunnel, will be repaid within the next 20 years with 2 per cent interest. The government will start repaying that debt from 2025 and hoped to use the earnings generated from the project. However, the tunnel has been failing to meet its income target, although debts were supposed to be repaid mainly from the tolls collected.
The Korean EPZ, a few bank branches and a handful of shops, which started their journey at Anwara area of the South portion of Chattogram, are continuously incurring losses as no new industries, factories, or desired business opportunities are being created, which would have been benifitted from the ease of road communication through the tunnel, according to sources concerned.
Despite the acquisition of land to build a Chinese Industrial Zone around the tunnel, there was no progress in the project in the last few years. In 2013, the feasibility study on the tunnel indicated that 6.3 million vehicles could move annually and on average, 1.726 million cars would cross every day.
But, now, a little over 3,000 vehicles have been using the tunnel. At present, the daily average rate of vehicles passing is only 18 per cent of the target.
The number of tourist cars has been declining in the area, and it is not more than the number of other cars.
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