Rail projects derail

As previous governments failed to invest adequately in railway causing projects to stumble, this government took up 28 new projects with an estimated cost of Tk 14,000 but it too is holding on to the money tight.
The negligence over the decades has left the sector with a very poor capacity to serve the people. The slow or no release of funds has been a key factor in the stagnation of the sector while red tape has put many projects on hold.
Less than a half of the Tk 14,000 crore this government wants to spend in the projects is supposed to be met by taking credit from India, and the rest from Japan with the government filling the deficit.
Rail officials were initially excited believing that finally the sector would see some much-needed money coming in. But that was not to be.
Officials, tired of waiting, say that even though the government has finally woken up to the urgent need to revive the sector, the pace of fund release remains as slow as ever.
This is evident in the fact that the present government is releasing only Tk 480 crore this year for ongoing projects against a demand for Tk 3,549 crore.
Over the last two decades, governments chalked out 10 projects worth Tk 3,700 crore and released a measly Tk 1,345 crore mostly from donors' funds. This severe lack of funding has hampered work, railway officials say.
Previous governments have also shelved vital proposals to buy locomotives, coaches, wagons, rehabilitation of tracks and improve the signal systems. As a result, Bangladesh Railway operates with obsolete locomotives and wagons and worn out tracks causing frequent derailments.
Railway has lost passenger and freight-carrying capacity as the number of locomotives, coaches, wagons and the tracks are falling.
About 40 percent of the 283 passenger trains cannot follow their schedules due to shabby condition of tracks, frequent derailments, and lack of locomotives, causing immense sufferings to the passengers. Railway officials said for a train they do not consider delays up to 30 minutes as late, which is shocking to many.
The railway is unable to meet the huge demand for carrying goods to and from Dhaka and Chittagong due to severe scarcity of locomotives and wagons. The number of locomotives has been reduced to 255 from 486 in 1971.
Recently out of frustration, the railway authority reviewed and scrapped four old projects. Officials told The Daily Star that many of the remaining older projects face similar fates, if the government or donors do not release funds soon.
ONGOING PROJECTS
At present railway authorities are implementing four projects with money from Japan Debt Cancellation Fund to improve the Mymensingh-Jamalpur-Dewanganj sector, upgrading the Parbatipur-Kanchan-Panchagarh and Kanchan-Birol metre-gauge tracks into dual-gauge tracks, modernisation of Saidpur Railway Workshop and to purchase two relief trains. So far, only Tk 535 crore has been invested against an estimated cost of Tk 1,424 crore.
India is to provide Tk 4,424 crore for a dozen projects in which the Bangladesh government's commitment is Tk 1,680 crore. Unfortunately the Indian government has not released any fund yet and the Bangladesh government has released only a paltry Tk 17 lakh.
The rail authorities have received another Tk 872 crore from foreign donors for three projects worth Tk 3,061 crore. There is only one technical assistance project for railway requiring Tk 107 crore but no fund has been made available for it so far.
To speed up rail projects, the railway authorities have been pushing the government to give the sector its due importance.
“We have urged the government to allocate an additional Tk 2,277 crore this year to implement six important projects,” Abu Taher, director general of Bangladesh Railway, told The Daily Star recently.
Before the budget for fiscal year 2011-12, the communications ministry sought Tk 5,783 crore from the finance ministry for the railway's ongoing development projects. However, the money did not come through.
“You can't develop any sector on such a small budget,” a senior railway official lamented.
Former communications minister Syed Abul Hossain, when he was at the ministry, said he requested both the finance and planning ministries to allocate sufficient funds for the railway projects.
“At the same time, we are looking for foreign funds,” he told The Daily Star.
Suranjit Sengupta, who took charge of the newly created railway ministry, said he would try to get soft loans from various countries to inject more money in the railway sector.
“At the same time, I will also try to manage more government funds for the implementation of at least some of the projects,” he told The Daily Star Saturday.
Although the railway sector was ignored, Suranjit said the present government realises the importance of the railway and taking up projects for its development.
If all the projects are implemented, the railway would get 40 new locomotives, 537 coaches, 466 wagons and 454km new tracks. Under the projects, 219km tracks will be developed and revamped while the signalling systems at 13 stations will be modernised.
PRESENT GOVERNMENT'S WORK
The government recently signed three deals to upgrade 64km of the Tongi-Bhairab Bazar single track into double track, procure 20 sets of diesel-electric trains and improve the Laksam-Chandpur track.
The Tongi-Bhairab Bazar track will cost Tk 724 crore while the diesel-electric trains will cost Tk 654 crore. They are to be purchased by 2013. The Laksam-Chandpur line will be improved by 2013 at a cost of Tk 168 crore.
There is no allocation yet for the Tongi-Bhairab Bazar project and only Tk 5 crore has been released to buy the diesel-electric trains. Only Tk 10 crore has been released for Laksam-Chandpur project so far.
Bringing tourist city of Cox's Bazar under the existing railway network is an important initiative taken up by the present government. Even though the prime minister inaugurated the work of the new rail line back in April, actual work of the Tk 1,852 crore project is yet to begin. The government has released Tk 20 crore so far, which is a little over one percent of the total cost of the project.
Construction of another new rail line, from Ishwardi to Dhakarchar via Pabna, has gained some momentum as the government has so far released Tk 163 crore out of the Tk 982 crore required. The work on linking Mongla Sea Port with the railway network in Khulna will however take time.
OLDER PROJECTS
In January 1996, the then government undertook a project under which 46 diesel-electric locomotives were supposed to be procured within the next few years. Even though 15 years have gone by, the project is yet to be implemented, giving startling evidence of how negligent successive governments have been about the railway sector.