Bhanga-Benapole 4-lane project: stretch decreased cost increased

Staff Reporter :
The Bhanga-Jashore-Benapole Highway development project’s cost was not possible to decrease while the project stretch has reduced about four kilometers.
Moreover, the cost has increased about Tk1216 crore.
Initially, the land acquisition project was taken in 2020 with a cost of Tk 27.87 billion against 817 acres of land, when a 133-kilometre stretch was taken into account.
But, the project stretch decreased by four kilometres, but the to-be-acquired land area increased by nearly 150 acres. Now, a total of Tk 42.37 billion will be spent on land acquisition and compensation.
It is known that 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 because of 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 selected, RHD officials said.
RHD in July 2019 submitted a DPP to the Road Transport and Highways Division for acquiring land and moving the utility services lines as part of preparations for starting the physical work.
But the Planning Commission asked RHD to recast the DPP.
When RHD re-submitted it to the division again after the necessary changes, the commission in February asked for another recast.
RHD resubmitted the DPP three-four months ago, where the cost for acquiring land and moving the utility services lines has been put down as Tk 4,236.60 crore. The government will bear the full cost.
On the other hand, RHD in December 2020 placed a DPP for the main project. But the division in June 2021 asked RHD to recast it.
When the DPP was resubmitted with an estimated cost of Tk 11,050.04 crore, the division asked RHD to recast it again early this year.
RHD last month resubmitted DPP again with an estimated cost of Tk 13,84 1.11 crore, of which Tk 11,082.52 crore is expected to come as a foreign loan, RHD officials said.
Meanwhile, RHD, under a project funded by Asian Development Bank, completed a feasibility study and detailed design of the project in December 2021, the sources said.
Contacted, Road Transport and Highway Division Secretary ABM Amin Ullah Nuri said they have received the DPP but he has to go through it for making comments about the cost increase.
The secretary, however, said the cost of the project may increase due to the increase in the cost of construction materials and land. Asked whether India has confirmed funding, Nuri said: “I have to check before making comments on it.”