The botched infrastructure projects management

It is really distressing to know that foreign contractors have abandoned three infrastructure projects in the power and railway sectors midway, citing late payment of bills, delayed delivery of the site, and failure to provide bank guarantees against advance bills.

The results are delay in implementation, increase in costs and public hardship as happened in Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant transmission line, Dhaka-Narayanganj dual-gauge double line and Kulaura-Shahbazpur railway line rehabilitation projects when the Russian, Chinese, and Indian companies all left the country.

While the Indian contractor for Shahbazpur-Kulaura railway project left the work half-done under the pretext of Covid-19, the Chinese firm cited delay in transfer of site for leaving Dhaka-Narayanganj rail line work, according to report of a newspaper yesterday.

The Russian company engaged in Rooppur transmission line work had payment complications due to international restrictions. Experts and officials say project directors are supposed to settle the land and payment issues to run the project work smoothly.

There are provisions to hold foreign contractors responsible for leaving work halfway through, but any action is hardly taken against them.

According to Power Division sources, a Russian company was appointed in January 2021 to undertake frequency control and frequency drop protection work as part of the transmission infrastructure development project for power evacuation from the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.

Companies cited multiple reasons for its inability to provide consultancy services, including the international communication shutdown resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, failure to provide a bank guarantee for advance payments, delays in insurance acceptance, and international restrictions on accepting bills through letters of credit.

While the transmission infrastructure development project was initially slated for completion by December 2023, the Russian consultant will require a two-year extension to finalise the work.

Delays in project commencement, often attributed to the pretext of the Covid-19 pandemic, have led to prolonged interruptions in the implementation of several projects.

The mega projects will trigger mega outcry and put loan repayments burden without completion of the projects.