Cost of Bhanga-Jashore-Benapole Highway project jumps even before its approval

The proposed Bhanga-Jashore-Benapole Highway development project will be setting an example of how poor planning and uncertainty over funding can escalate the implementation costs sharply. Even before the project got the nod, its estimated cost has increased by 25 per cent or about Tk 2,800 crore — which is more than the Roads and Highways Department’s annual budget for road maintenance in the last fiscal year.
In the original development project proposal (DPP) submitted to the Road Transport and Highway Division earlier this year, the cost for turning the 129.17-kilometre highway into a four-lane with service road on both sides was estimated to be Tk 11,050.04 crore. Now, the cost has spiralled to Tk 13,841.11 crore. The cost jump has been pinned on the change in RHD’s rate schedule. The original DPP was prepared following RHD’s rate schedule for 2019 and the re-casted one is based on the latest rate schedule approved this year. This cost — Tk 13,841.11 crore — would be on top of the cost of another project that would be taken up for land acquisition and utility relocation for the expansion of the two-lane highway.
The estimated cost for land acquisition and utility relocation is Tk 4,236.60 crore, so the total cost of expansion of the road would be Tk 18,077.71 crore — making it the costliest RHD project. The country is failing to reap the maximum benefit of the enhanced connectivity after the opening of Padma Bridge and Madhumati Bridge as the road from Faridpur’s Bhanga to Jashore’s Benapole is still not ready for increased vehicular movement.
A plan for turning the two-lane Bhanga-Benapole road into a four-lane highway was chalked out long ago but it saw little progress thanks to uncertainty over funding. Bangladesh in October 2017 signed a $4.5 billion line of credit agreement with India and the Bhanga-Jashore-Benapole road expansion is one of the projects. Fearing economic recession and famine, the government, when adopting austerity policy, said the cost overrun of the construction would not reap much profit.