Rail Bridge over Jamuna: PM to lay foundation stone on Nov 29
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would lay the foundation stone of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge over the Jamuna on November 29.
"All necessary procedures, including the tendering processes, were completed. The prime minister would lay the foundation stone on November 29. With this, works of the bridge would start formally," Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan said.
He was speaking at a press conference at Rail Bhaban in the capital to discriminate information about the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge Project.
He said trains would be able to use the new bridge from August 2024 and it would bring a major change in railway services between Dhaka and western region.
The 4.8km-long bridge will be built some 300 metres upstream of the Bangabandhu Bridge which has a single rail line.
Once built, the dual-gauge double-track bridge would be the largest dedicated rail bridge in the country.
In December 2016, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council passed the bridge project at a cost of Tk 9,734 crore and the project was scheduled to be completed within December 2023.
The project's cost has gone up to Tk 16,781 crore from Tk 9,734 crore and the current deadline is December 2025.
Costs of two main work packages saw a huge rise after the detailed design was made in September 2018. Besides, costs of land acquisition, land lease and building a museum were also included in the project, causing a jump in the total cost.
Increased VAT and customs duties were also responsible for the cost escalation, documents obtained by The Daily Star show.
A joint venture of Obayashi Corporation, TOA Corporation and JFE would construct the eastern part of the bridge while another joint venture of the IHI and SMCC will work on the western part, officials said.
All are Japanese companies.
The project has signed deals with the contractors on April 5 and they have formally commenced work on August 10, they said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was supposed to lay the foundation stone of the project in March but it deferred due to Covid-19 pandemic, they added.
RAIL PANI IS DRINKABLE
Bangladesh Railway (BR) will resume selling its bottled water brand "Rail Pani" from November 15 after three tests found it to be drinkable.
Nurul Islam Sujan made the announcement at the press conference.
The railway authorities last month decided to suspend selling of the product as media was critical about the quality of the product.
Sujan said following media reports about the quality of the water, they sent its samples to Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institute (BSTI), Buet and icddr,b for tests. As per their reports, the water is drinkable.
On August 13, BR and Shyamoli Food and Beverage signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.
Meanwhile, the minister said BR will resume food service in trains from November 15 after more than seven months.
BR suspended food service in late March when the halted operation of passenger's trains to contain spread of Covid-19 pandemic. Although, the authority started resumption of passenger's train service from June but food service remained suspended.
Asked about Prime Minister Office (PMO) directives to cut cost of two China-funded railways projects, Sujan said they would drop some additional structures from the projects. He hoped the changes would not make major delay in project implementation.
As per the PMO's directive, railways have to reduce Tk 3,354.31 crore cost from the project for converting metre-gauge rail line to dual-gauge line between Akhaura and Sylhet, which is 20.8 percent of the total project cost.
For upgrading the Joydebpur-Ishwardi dual-gauge line to dual-gauge double line, Tk 1,495.52 crore cost has to be slashed. The amount is 12.91 percent of the total project cost.
Railways Ministry's Secretary Salim Reza, BR's Director General Md Shamsuzzaman and Bangabandhu Rail Bridge Project Director Md Quamrul Ahsan, also spoke the press conference.
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