Revision of Railway Projects: Minister, high-ups blame it on pandemic

Shrugging off their responsibilities, the railway authorities have blamed the Covid-19 situation for wholesale revision of the railway projects that are being implemented to improve services.

"There are valid reasons for the delays. But since I took charge of the ministry, I have been making field visits and trying to complete all the projects timely," Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan said at a programme yesterday.

"We left no stone unturned and hope to complete the projects timely," he said in reply to a query.

Salim Reza, secretary at the railways ministry, and Dhirendra Nath Mazumder, director general of Bangladesh Railway, echoed his views.

Almosthalf of the 39 ongoing projects of the BR will have to be revised as their deadlines will expire by the end of the current fiscal year, thanks to poor implementation.

This will push up costs of many of the projects, aimed at improving services of the struggling railway.

The minister and the high officials were talking to the media after the signing of contracts on a project taken up for constructing a 23.90-km broad-gauge rail line, including a loop line, from Faridpur's Madhukhali to Magura.

The Tk 1,202.49-crore project was supposed to be implemented between May 2018 and April next year. But it ran into a snag and the physical work is going to start around three years after its approval.

Yesterday, the BR signed 18-month contracts with two China-Bangladesh joint-venture companies for the project, meaning the authorities have to extend the deadline for its completion.

Asked about the reasons behind the delay, the railways minister said something exceptional had happened regarding the project.

It was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council before any feasibility study was carried out and designs were finalised. And this led todelays, the minister mentioned.

Besides, it took a considerable amount of time to acquire land. And above all, the pandemic caused delays, he said.

Sujan also said they have to extend the project deadline.

Seeking anonymity, a BR official said that usually, the feasibility study of a project is carried out before its approval. But in this case, the study was done after the project's approval, and it took one and a half years to complete the study.

The BR is implementing 39 projects involving Tk 1,41,883.70 crore, most of which are funded by loans from various countries and agencies.

Deadlines of 24 of those will expire in June this year, show BR documents.

Only four of the projects are likely to be completed by June while one got cancelled, according to BR officials.

Scrutinising project documents, this newspaper found 19 of the 24 projects have already been revised at least once and some multiple times.

Asked why such a big number of projects have to be revised, the minister avoided a direct reply and said journalists should appreciate that they are carrying out activities during this pandemic.

Works of different mega projects are now going on, and Chinese and Indian engineers and workers are involved in different projects. Since many of them could not come to Bangladesh due to the pandemic, implementation of the projects is being hampered, he said.

The minister also claimed that the costs of projects did not increase due to deadline extension in all the cases, rather those went up due to changes in scope of work.

Railways Secretary Salim Reza said the ministries, especially the finance ministry, have to make many decisions to keep the country's economy going, and one such decision was not to issue work orders for now.

As the government sticks to austerity amid the pandemic, it last month asked all the ministries, except for the health and the agriculture ministries, not to issue work orders for any physical work during the remainder of the current fiscal year.

"But it [the Tk 1,202.49-crore project] has been exempted from that order… You have to consider the situation. Works of the projects are going on even during this pandemic."

Salim said they have to face various challenges while implementing the projects.

Dhirendra claimed that the cost of a railway project doesn't go up because of deadline extension, rather it increases due to changes in scope of work.

CONTRACTS

The physical work of the project will be carried out under two packages -- one for the railway track and the other for bridges.

A joint venture company of China Railway Group Ltd, also known as CREC, and Castle Construction Company Ltd of Bangladesh will implement the first package at a cost of Tk 433.78 crore.

Another joint venture firm of China Railway Construction Corporation Limited and Mir Akhter Hossain Ltd of Bangladesh will implement the second package involving Tk 448.98 crore.

Awami League lawmaker Kazi Nabil Ahmed, also vice chairman of Gemcom Group, the parent company of Castle Construction Company Ltd, and AL lawmaker from Magura-1 Saifuzzaman Shikhar, among others, spoke at the programme moderated by Project Director Ashadul Haque.