Plug leaks to the media

Bangladesh Railway has been asked to plug news leaks about projects being implemented under government-to-government initiative between Bangladesh and China.  

Chinese embassy in Dhaka wrote about the issue to the Economic Relations Division which last month requested the Railways Ministry to take steps in this regard, according to sources familiar with the development.

The development and planning wing of the ministry on March  10 wrote to the director general of Bangladesh Railway (BR). Copies of the letter signed by a senior assistant secretary were sent to the project directors, they added.

Two ministry officials confirmed about the letter.

This correspondent could not reach Pronab Kumar Ghosh, additional secretary (development and planning), and Salim Reza, secretary, over the phone. Text messages sent to them were also not replied to.

The ministry letter mentioned that an English daily last month reported on the long delay in signing of a loan from China for a project to turn Joydebpur-Ishwardi section into dual-gauge double lines. The report quoted a top BR official.

"Chinese embassy notified the Economic Relations Division about the matter. Chinese embassy in its letter mentioned that no information can be leaked to the media as per the 'work discipline' of the G-to-G [government to government] projects," reads the letter.

"ERD requested taking steps in this regard following the Chinese embassy letter," it said.

The BR director general has been asked to take steps or send an opinion about the letters from the ERD and Chinese embassy.

Expansion of the existing Joydebpur-Ishwardi section is one of the four projects that are being or were supposed to be implemented by Chinese firms with Chinese funds under G-to-G initiatives.

The Chinese funds are given in soft loans and contractors are selected through a limited or no tender process.

The Tk 14,250.61 crore project to turn the 174km Joydebpur-Ishwardi section into dual-gauge double lines was taken in November 2018. It was supposed to be implemented between January 2019 and December 2024, according to BR documents.

In March 2019, the railways ministry sent a letter to the Chinese government, requesting it to sign the deal. In the last two years, the ministry wrote to the Chinese government three times, but failed to get a response. The last letter was sent in January, ministry sources said.

The projects made headlines last year after the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in September formed a committee to review negotiated contract costs for three of the projects.

The committee later directed the railways ministry to significantly reduce the cost of two of the projects.

As per the PMO directives, the BR has to cut Tk 3,354.31 crore from the project to convert metre-gauge lines to dual-gauge lines between Akhaura and Sylhet. The amount is about 20.8 percent of the total cost.

Besides, the PMO asked for slashing Tk 1,495.52 crore from the Joydebpur-Ishwardi rail line expansion project. The amount is 12.91 percent of the contract price.

The committee also gave directives on the Joydebpur-Mymensingh-Jamalpur dual-gauge double lines project.

BR is implementing the Padma Bridge Rail Link Project with Chinese loans. The 169km line will connect the capital with Jashore at a cost of Tk 39,246 crore.