7 Railway Projects: Slow ADP fund release causing more delays
With railways projects under Indian Line of Credit and grants already facing delays, the project directors have pointed out some issues in implementing the work, which was taken up to boost connectivity among neighbouring countries.
The main issue in all the seven projects -- six being executed under Indian LoC while one with Indian grants -- is halt in fund disbursement from the Annual Development Programme (ADP), after all these were listed as "low priority projects".
Design and land-related disagreement with officials of other projects and agencies concerned and visa-related complications of Indian nationals involved in some of the seven projects, among other issues, were also discussed in a meeting, said railway sources.
Project directors shared the matter with Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan when he chaired the Monthly Development Review Meeting on Monday at the capital's Rail Bhaban, the sources said.
After learning about the issues, the minister gave relevant authorities several directives on solving them and asked the project authorities to expedite the work, which slowed down due to Covid-19 pandemic.
The six railway projects being implemented under Indian LoC are: construction of Khulna-Mongla Port rail line; construction of 3rd and 4th dual gauge lines in Dhaka-Tongi section and dual gauge double line in Dhaka-Joydebpur section; rehabilitation of Kulaura-Shahbazpur section; conversion of meter gauge into dual gauge line from Parbatipur to Kaunia section; construction of double line in Khulna-Darshana section; and construction of dual gauge line from Bogura to Sirajganj.
The other project -- construction of Akhaura-Agartala dual gauge railway link -- is being executed with Indian grants.
The government has decided to put a hold on the implementation of low-priority development projects amid the drastic fall in revenue collection caused by the coronavirus pandemic and as part of its belt-tightening measures.
Out of 39 railways projects being worked on, 24, including these seven projects, have been listed as low-priority projects, halting disbursement of ADP fund, railways sources said.
Although these low-priority projects were allowed to use project aid or foreign loans but their implementing authorities cannot use them as they have to pay custom duties and Vat to release those funds, which are not available now, the sources said.
The development comes when almost all the projects are running behind schedule, they added.
In this situation, the railways minister on Monday sat with the projects directors and officials of his ministry and Bangladesh Railways to short out different problems involving the work.
Take the following project for an example.
Around two-and a half years ago, the government had approved this project to build a double rail line along the existing single track from Khulna to Darshana.
The project, aimed at boosting trade activities with neighbouring countries using the Mongla port, was supposed to be implemented from January 2018 till December 2022 at a cost of Tk 3,506.75 crore. Seventy-seven percent of the fund would be provided by India in loan money.
Almost half the project period has elapsed, its authorities have not even appointed a consultant yet, let alone start the physical work.
The situation over the construction of Khulna-Mongla Port rail line is similar.
The project was approved in December, 2010 involving Tk 1,721 crore. The deadline was initially extended to December 2014, then to June 2018, then to June 2020 and finally to June, 2021.
In the meantime, the project cost rose to Tk 3,801 crore, of which India would provide Tk 2371.34 crore in soft loan.
Project Director Jahangir Hossain raised the fund issue at Monday's meeting, apart from visa-related problems being faced by Indian nationals involved in the project and slow progress in the work due to the Covid-19 pandemic, meeting sources said.
Project Director Afzal Hossain of Dhaka-Tongi and Tongi-Joydebpur project raised the problem they are facing to acquire more land from Civil Aviation Authorities for the construction of more lines at the Airport railway station and their problems with Dhaka Elevated Expressway project regarding clearance, they said.
A portion of the expressway will be constructed over the rail line from Banani to Malibagh and the railway authorities have some reservation over the "poor clearance" of the expressway project, they added.
"The railways minister, after hearing about the problems, gave directives on solving those issues," one of the meeting participants told this correspondent.
About fund crunch, the minister said they had already talked with the finance secretary and planned to channelise some fund from other projects to these low-priority projects, meeting sources said.
Contracted, Nurul Islam Sujan yesterday told The Daily Star that he had already directed his ministry's secretary to talk to the finance secretary so that funds were released for these "important" projects.
He said apart from the health and the agriculture ministries, all other ministries had to categorise projects based on priorities, and the authorities concerned would evaluate the situation in this month so that project works continued.
"I have given some directives to expedite project work, which got slowed down due to several reasons, including the Covid pandemic, and complete it within the deadlines," he told The Daily Star yesterday.
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