35 corrupt railway projects are plagued with huge cost escalation

Bangladesh Railway is implementing 35 projects to expand its services, but none of them would be completed on time, raising questions about its capability in executing such a large number of development schemes concurrently. The deadlines for 25 projects have already been extended — from one year to 11 years. Eleven of them saw cost escalations and even the expenditure of a project rose by 873.76 per cent.
The original cost of the 35 projects was Tk 108,020 crore. But it went up to Tk 1,40,028 crore after revisions, meaning BR has to spend Tk 32,008 crore more, which is more than the Padma Bridge project cost. Although the deadlines of 10 other projects have not expired yet, the construction or procurement process did not start in any of them. So, their deadlines have to be stretched.
There is also a possibility that costs of many of the projects would go up as delays usually increase costs. Long delay in project implementation costs more public money. Most of the amount being spent on the projects came from foreign loans. On the other hand, people’s wait for an improved railway service is getting longer.
More importantly, the government’s plan to revive the railway, which had been neglected for decades, stumbled although Tk 71,113 crore has been injected into the sector for its development since the Awami League assumed office in 2009. Once completed, six new districts will come under the rail network and the existing tracks and services in important and busy business districts will be upgraded. Even connections with neighbouring India would also improve. Six other projects have been undertaken to procure locomotives, carriages and wagons, as around 67 per cent of locomotives and 47 per cent of carriages have crossed economic life.
Corruption and misappropriation along with impunity, cost overrun and non-accountability have plagued government projects for many years, no matter what the sufferings are. The railway was the most notorious for corruption and fund embezzlement, no institutional reformation was enforced there to get an effective outcome. We need to reconstruct the country and the system.